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SOURCE BOOK 

OF THE 



s HISTORY OF EDUCATION 

FOR THE 

•■■: p* • *♦. 

GREEK AND R£)M^N PERIOD 

/ BY 

PAUL MONROE, Ph.D. 

ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION, 
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 
I9OI 

All right* r«t*rv*d 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Ywo ConE« Riooyco 

OCT. 25 1901 

OOP^WOHT BfTBY 

CLASS ^ XXo. No. 

oopy a ' 



\ 



U^^ 
^\^ 



Copyright, 1901, 
By the macmillan company. 






KottDooti Hfrne 

i. S Cmhing fc Co. — Berwick It Smtth 
{Norwood Mut- U.S-A- 



\ 






SOURCE BOOK OF THE HISTORY 
OF EDUCATION 

FOR THE GREEK AND ROMAN PERIOD 



l^hs^y^>^ 



PREFACE 

Since neither history nor education has a meaning of 
universal acceptation, the "History of Education" presents 
for solution a problem containing two variable quantities. 
Without attempt at definition of either term, the following 
selections from the literary sources are presented as an aid 
to the exposition of education in its historic aspect. For 
the most part, these relate to education in the accepted 
historic meaning of the term, — that of a definitely organ- 
ized institutional attempt to realize in individuals the ideals 
controlling a given people. In the early historic period of 
any people such efforts are not exerted through an insti- 
tution specially organized for the one purpose ; hence the 
earlier sources are quite general in their nature, relating 
more to the aims and ideals of education than to its organ- 
ization. The great majority of the selections, however, 
deal with education as the work of a specific institution, 
for thus it is found to be as soon as a people comes into a 
consciousness of its own ends and of ways of attaining 
them. With the Greeks a third type of sources is essen- 
tial to an understanding of their educational thought 
and practices. These are the philosophical discussions of 
education, both as to its proper function and as to its 
theoretically perfect means. 



vi Preface 

It is not to be understood that all such sources for the 
Greek and Roman people are here presented ; for it would 
be a difficult, if not impossible, task to indicate the limits 
of the literature that might be used as historical evidence. 
Nevertheless, this volume includes most of the important 
discussions of organized educational efforts that are to be 
found in classical literature. There exist other sources, 
such as inscriptions, vase and mural paintings, and other 
art works, which possess no less value as sources than the 
literary monuments of the past, and which offer corrobora- 
tive evidence for the use of the historian. 

The purpose of this volume is to render accessible to 
the student with limited time and limited hbrary facilities, 
the ideas of the Greeks and Romans concerning education, 
and such descriptions of their educational systems as are 
given in their own literature. In lieu of such available 
material the student has hitherto been restricted to second- 
ary or more remote discussions, which in many cases are 
not even based upon a study of the sources. It is believed 
that by such direct study there will result, not only a more 
correct idea of the education of the classical period, but 
also a better apprehension of the meaning of education in 
its historical and contemporary aspects. This volume is 
designed as a text; hence the sources are classified into 
periods, in order to afford the student aid in their interpre- 
tation, and each group of sources is accompanied by a 
brief introductory sketch indicating the general setting 
of the period to which it belongs and the main principles 
of interpretation to be followed. These introductory chap- 
ters furnish little more than a syllabus for study ; the 



Preface vii 

interpretation is purposely left in a large degree to the 
student. The brief connecting links between the various 
periods under which the sources are classified secure for 
the student a connected text, and do away with a seri- 
ous limitation to the usefulness of many source books. 

As far as possible, all questions of controverted his- 
torical interpretation and all textual criticism have been 
avoided. There has been no effort at original translation, 
since with one or two minor exceptions standard versions 
are available, and the greater need is for selection and 
classification. Wherever possible, selections have been 
made from such translations as are most readily acces- 
sible in complete form. The passages from the Dialogues 
of Plato are from the second Jowett edition, those from 
Aristotle and Thucydides are from the first Jowett edi- 
tions, and most other passages from the Bohn Library 
editions. Where other translations have been used, due 
credit has been given. At the expense of no little variety, 
it has seemed best to preserve the punctuation and spell- 
ing of the translations used. Where, in deference to 
modern standards of taste, it has been necessary to ex- 
punge passages or phrases, the omission has been indi- 
cated by asterisks. This necessity is regrettable, for in 
the passages expunged are very frequently indicated some 
of the most characteristic aspects of ancient education ; 
but in a text for general use such omissions cannot well 
be avoided. 

The scope of the book does not include any specific 
account of Roman education after the Christianization of 
the Empire. As being more vitally connected with early 



viii Preface 

Christian and mediaeval education, the presentation of 
such sources is reserved for a future volume. 

The author desires to express his obligation to Messrs. | 
Bell and Sons, publishers of the Bohn Library series, for 
the privilege of making very liberal use of their publica- 
tions; to Messrs. Little, Brown and Company for the 
privilege of using the selection from Professor Goodwin's 
edition of Plutarch's Morals ; to Messrs. Butterworth and 
Company for the privilege of using the selection from 
their publication on Roman Law ; and to Messrs. Macmil- 
lan and Company for the privilege of using the extract ■ 
from Jebb's Attic Orator: also to Professor Franklin T. 
Baker and Mr. Theodore C. Mitchill for assistance in the 
revision of the text, and to Mr. Rudolph L Coffee for 
the preparation of the Index. 

PAUL MONROE 
New York, 
September 26, 1901. 



CONTENTS 
PART I 

CREEK EDUCATION 

CHAPTER I 
Old Greek Education 

PACK 

Periods of Greek Education i 

Education of the Homeric Period 2 

The City State as the Basis of Old Greek Education ... 3 
The Sources relating to the Historic Period of Old Greek Edu- 
cation 4 

Spartan Education ........ 9 

Athenian Education 11 

Selections from 

The Zz/i? ^ Zy^?^r^«j by Plutarch 15 

Pericles' Funeral Oration, from Thucydides ... 24 

Tht Protagoras oi ¥\3Xo 31 

The Ephebic Oath 33 

CHAPTER n 
Education of Women in Greece 

Period and Source 34 

The Education of Women 36 

Selections from 

The Econofuics of Xenophon . . .... 37 

ix 



X Contents 

CHAPTER III 
The New Greek Education 

PAGB 

The Period 51 

The Sources -54 

Changes in Education 58 

The Sophists 60 

Literary Education ......... 64 

Selections from 

The Clouds of Aristophanes ....... 66 

The Oration Against the Sophists, by Isocrates . . • 91 

The Oration On the Exxhange of Estates, by Isocrates . . 95 

The Republic of Plato 109 \ 



CHAPTER IV 
Greek Educational Theorists: The Historical View 



4 



The Period and the Sources *^^i 

The Problem of tlie Theorists . . . . . . - . 116 [ 

Socrates 118^ 

Xenophon 120 J 

Selections from 

The Cyropcedia of Xenophon 122 

CHAPTER V 

Greek Educational Theorists: The Philosophical 
View 



The Period and the Authority 129 ' 

The Republic 130 '' 

The Laws ........... 134 i» 

Selections from 

The Republic of Plato 138 

The Laws of Plato 222 



I 



Contents xi 

CHAPTER VI 
Greek Educational Theorists: The Scientific View 

PAGE 

The Period and the Authority 265 

Tht Politics 268 

Selections from 

The Politics of Aristotle 272 

CHAPTER VII 
The Later Cosmopolitan Greek Education 

The Period 295 

The Sources 296 

The Philosophical Schools 297 

The University of Athens ........ 300 

Selections from 

The Decrees of the Athenian Senate ..... 302 

The Decrees of the Athenian Assembly .... 304 

The Panegyric on Saint Basil, by Gregory Nazienzen . . 305 

The Morals of Plutarch 307 

PART II 

ROMAN EDUCATION 

CHAPTER I 

Early Roman Education in General 

Periods of Roman Education ....... 327 

Sources 328 

The Laws of the Twelve Tables ....... 330 

Ideals of Roman Education . . . . . . . -331 

The Subject-matter, Method, and Organization of Early Roman 

Education ......... 333 

Selections from 

The Laws of the Twelve Tables 334 

The De Orator e of Cicero 345 



xii Contents 

CHAPTER II 
The Second Period of Early Roman Education 

PAGE 

The Period 346 

The Sources 346 

The Introduction of Schools and the Hellenization of Education . 347 

Selections from 

The Lives of Eminent Grammarians, by Suetonius . . 349 
Hht Lives of Eminent Rhetoricians, hy Sntiomas . . '352 

CHAPTER III 

Contrast between the Earlier and the Later 

Periods of Roman Education 

I 
The Periods 35J 

The Sources ; their Interpretation ...... 356 

The Contrast as to Aim, Subject-matter, Method, and Organi- 
zation ........... 358 

Selections from 

The Bacchides of Plautus 360 

The Dialogue on Oratory, by Tacitus 361 

CHAPTER IV 

Survival of Early Roman Educational Ideals in 
THE Later Period 

The Sources 371 

The Stoic Philosophy 373 

Summary of these Survivals 374 

Selections from 

The Life of Atticus, by Cornelius Nepos .... 375 

The Life of Augustus, by Suetonius 375 

Th& Life of Agricola, hyTzciiMs 376 

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius yjj 



Contents xiii 

CHAPTER V 
The Third Period: The Hellenized Roman Education 

PAGE 

The Period 386 

The Sources 387 

Purpose and Content of Education of this Period . . . 390 

The Organization of Education 390 

The Method of Education 393 

The Education of Women 394 

The Decadence of Roman Education 394 

Selections from 

The Satires and the Epistles of Horace .... 396 

The Epigrams of Martial 399 

The Epistles of Seneca 4°° 

The Lives of the Twelve Cc^sars, by Suetonius . . . 400 

Musonius 4°! 

The Letters of Pliny the Younger 406 

The 6"fl//r^j' of Juvenal 4^6 

CHAPTER VI 

The Orator as the Ideal of Roman Education 

The Period and the Authority 421 

The Source 423 

Summary of the Dialogue on Oratory 425 

Selections from 

The Dialogue on Oratory, by Cicero 428 

CHAPTER VII 

Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 

The Period and the Authority 445 

The Source .......... 446 

General Character of the Educational Content of the Institutes . 447 
Selections from 

The /«j///«/« of Quintilian 45* 



- PART I 
GREEK EDUCATION 

I. OLD GREEK EDUCATION 

The Periods of Greek Education may be characterized at 
that of the Old Greek Education and that of the New 
Greek Education. The Periclean Age, or the middle of 
the fifth century b.c, forms the dividing line. However, 
the characteristic changes marking the transition from the 
old to the new are not simply political, but are manifold, 
and can be understood in respect to education only by 
a study of such sources as those presented in the third 
section of this book. Each of these general periods 
may be subdivided. The earlier one includes, first, the 
Homeric period, and second, the historic period down to 
the middle of the fifth century. The second general 
period includes, first, the period of transition in educa- 
tional, religious, and moral ideas, this being the time of 
philosophical activity and of development of formal educa- 
tion. The second of these special periods may be dated 
from the Macedonian conquest toward the close of the 
fourth century b.c. By the opening of this last period 
the philosophical schools have become definitely formu- 
lated, and during the period are organized into the Uni- 
versity of Athens. In her intellectual hfe Greece now 
becomes cosmopolitan, and ceases to have distinctive 
characteristics aside from the philosophical schools. 



2 Source Book of the History of Education 

The Education of the Homeric Period was that of a primi- 
tive people. It was an education that had little or no 
place for definite instruction of a literary character, but 
was essentially a training process in definite practical 
activities. Though noble youths are spoken of as having 
been given a course of instruction in arms and martial 
exercises, and Achilles as having had instruction in music, 
the healing art, and even in rhetoric {Iliad, IX. 414), this 
instruction amounted to little more than a direct training 
by imitation, into which entered Httle or no instruction, as 
later distinguished by the Greeks. The education of thife 
period, as with all primitive peoples, consisted in that 
practical training which prepared for the immediate duties 
of life. Such training was given in the home for the 
humbler needs of life, — those connected with the securing 
of food, clothing, and shelter. The remainder of their j 
education was the training received in council, wars, and f 
marauding expeditions, for the more general public ser- 
vices demanded. This constituted the higher aspect of 
their education. The Homeric poems are a fertile source 
of information on this topic, though only in a very general 
way. In the Homeric period educational institutions were 
not distinct; the council and the camp furnished all higher 
education. The ideal of education was twofold : the man 
of valor, typified by Achilles ; the man of wisdom, by ' 
Odysseus. The characteristics of these ideals are found 
throughout the narratives of the Iliad and the Odyssey, 
though these passages are so general and so remote in 
character from education, as technically understood, that it 
is impossible to make brief selections that would be to the 
present purpose. The following selections, giving descrip- 
tions of council, or battle, or of the man of bravery, or 



Old Greek Education • 3 

man of wisdom, may, nevertheless, be found helpful as an 
introduction to the further study of the historic type of 
Old Greek education: the Iliad, I. 52-302; II. 35-380, 
445-482; IX. 50-180; X. 335-579; XL 617-804; XVIII. 
245-318; XIX. 40-275. 

The Character and Organization of Old Greek Education 
is determined by the city state. This institution furnished 
the basis and ideals of education, as did the family with 
the Chinese and the theocracy with the Hebrews. Even 
in the Homeric period there were evidences of the funda- 
mental importance of the city state, though it had not com- 
pletely taken shape at that time {Iliad, XVIII. 490). In 
the historic period, on the other hand, it furnished the key 
to the understanding of the educational development of 
the Hellenic people. The city state grew up by the suc- 
cessive amalgamation of patriarchal families into village 
communities, of village communities into phratries or 
brotherhoods, of phratries into tribes, and of tribes into 
cities. The bond which held the family together was 
dominantly that of blood relationship. The village de- 
pended more on economic interests ; the phratry, upon 
religious ties ; the tribe, upon the communal ownership 
of land. So too the city state in its beginning as a union 
of tribes was held together by this descent from the old 
famiHes and by possession of land. This " ancient wealth 
and worth " constituted the nobility of the Grecian citizen. 
Citizenship was confined at first to the heads of these 
noble families, but in time expanded until inclusive of all 
freemen. Though economic independence and free birth 
were always essential, this ideal of nobility came in time 
to consist less and less of wealth and noble birth, and 
more and more of certain traits of character that could be 



4 Source Book of the History of Education 

produced by education. Nobility now became virtue or 
worth. The Grecian idea of virtue underwent develop- 
ment, and this development constituted the basis of the 
historic growth of these educational ideals and practices. 
Virtue consisted at first almost wholly of physical bravery 
and a subordination of individual motives to the social 
welfare or demands. But in time it became spiritualized 
and intellectualized, and this growing intellectuality pro- 
duced the literary element in education. ' With the transi- 
tion to the period of new Greek education the literary 
element became supreme, at least with the Ionic Greeks; 
yet, whether small or great, it formed but a part of the Greek 
ideal of virtue or nobility. This idea of nobility is, then, 
the basis of their fundamental social institution, the city 
state. The possession of nobility was the prerequisite to 
membership in that institution. The dominant purpose of 
every prospective Grecian citizen was to attain this nobility 
or virtue. While economic independence, or wealth, and 
membership in the old families, or birth, were essential, all 
these could, in the later periods, be acquired. The intel- 
lectual and spiritual elements, the latter consisting largely 
of aesthetic appreciation, could be obtained only by educa- 
tion. Nobihty or virtue, whatever was the stage of its 
development, constituted the basis of social organization, 
and at the same time the ideal of achievement of every 
citizen or prospective citizen. This idea of virtue, or 
nobility, then, constituted the aim or purpose of education. 
The development of the organization, means, and method 
of education followed the evolution of this idea of nobility 
or virtue and that of the city state. This development 
constitutes the history of Greek education. 

The Sources relating to the Historic Period of Old Greek 



Old Greek Education 5 

Education are rather meagre if the selection be limited 
to direct discussion of education in a technical sense. 
The fullest are those which relate to Spartan education. 
This is owing to the fact that the old education was 
characteristic of Sparta throughout its history, for Sparta 
never accepted the new educational ideas or tolerated the 
new practices. Hence there are many authorities on the 
old education as found at Sparta, but comparatively few 
detailed discussions of the same period at Athens. Sparta, 
however, offers the best type of the old education, though 
of a much more extreme type than that found anywhere else 
in Greece, unless Crete be an exception. The account of 
Spartan education is from Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus, 
that being the fullest description of these educational insti- 
tutions. It could be supplemented by passages drawn from 
the Morals of Plutarch, as well as by briefer references 
from Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, and Aris- 
totle. Plutarch was a citizen of Boeotia, and lived about 
50 to 120 A.D. His Parallel Lives were written during 
the first years of the second Christian century. Plutarch 
was a moralist rather than a historian, and was more con- 
cerned in emphasizing the morals of an incident or life 
than in the accuracy of his facts. Hence his value as a 
historian depends upon the sources which he uses. In the 
Life of Lycnrgiis these are chiefly subsequent to Aristotle; 
Plato, Xenophon, and three of the minor poets are his only 
earlier authorities. His best authority is Aristotle. 

However, the errors in the Life of Lycuj-gus relate to 
statements that are not essential to the discussion of edu- 
cation. They are for the most part connected with the 
question of the character of Lycurgus and the division of 
the land.^ The question whether Lycurgus was an historical 



6 Source Book of the History of Education 

personage does not affect the value of the present narra- 
tive. There is no agreement on this point among modern 
historians. On the other hand, there is quite general 
agreement that Plutarch's account of the division of the 
land is without historic basis. But there is no question as 
to the characteristic social and educational institutions. 
The testimony from ancient authorities on these points is 
uniform and voluminous. As to the time of the introduc- 
tion of these educational institutions, there is also substan- 
tial agreement. Though the writers make no mention of 
Lycurgus as the author of these changes which were re- 
sponsible for the characteristic Spartan institutions, both 
Thucydides and Herodotus refer to these changes, as 
having taken place in the ninth century B.C. This is the 
period to which Lycurgus is assigned by other writers, 
including Plutarch. 

The educational- and social institutions of Sparta were 
peculiarly her own, for, while they form the best type 
of the old Greek education, they were not a common 
possession even among the Dorians. The nearest ap- 
proach to them was in Crete ; but here they were more 
communistic and of but brief duration. At Sparta, on 
the other hand, this education was coincident with 
Spartan political power. While there was evidently a 
marked decline in these institutions by the time of Aris- 
totle, they were yet characteristic and influential. By the 
third century B.C., they had fallen into decay, when Agis 
(244-240 B.C.) and Cleomenes (236-222 b.c.) attempted 
their restoration. With the coming of the Roman power 
these old ideals ceased to have any influence whatever, 
and the old institutions became obsolete. 

It is the new Greek education that was typical of 



Old Greek Education ' 7 

Athenian life, hence the references to the old education 
as it existed at Athens are not so numerous or detailed. 
As the literary age was essentially that of the new educa- 
tion, the sources referring to the old period are from 
writers that lived in the new. The best complete descrip- 
tion of the old education is the brief passage from the 
Protagoras of Plato. The Protagoras belongs in the early 
group of Plato's writings, dating probably from the first 
decade of the fourth century B.C. The scene is supposed 
to have been laid about 425 b.c. Protagoras was the first 
of the Sophists at Athens, where he began to teach about 
the middle of the fifth century b.c. The passage given is 
merely incidental to the main trend of the argument in 
the dialogue. The discussion between Socrates and Pro- 
tagoras is concernifig virtue. The substance of Socrates' 
argument is that virtue is unified because it reduces to a 
common principle, that common principle being knowl- 
edge. If this is true, then virtue is teachable. In regard 
to this last point, the position taken by disputants in the 
earlier part of the dialogue is reversed. The passage 
given is taken from a lengthy speech of Protagoras, in 
which he argues that virtue is teachable. One evidence 
he cites is this general account of old Athenian education, 
the aim of which was substantially the inculcation of vir- 
tue. The account is very concise and covers the entire 
scope of early education. This account can be supple- 
mented by passages found in selections relating to later 
periods, notably the contest between the old and new 
education in the Clouds of Aristophanes, in the ideal 
education advocated in the Republic, and in the scientific 
exposition of the Politics of Aristotle. 

The latest period of education mentioned in the Protag- 



8 Source Book of the History of Education 

oras is that devoted to the service of the state. The 
ideal of this education is given in the oath which the 
Ephebes were required to take, here given as the second 
selection. The third selection is the famous funeral ora- 
tion of Pericles written by Thucydides. This is one of 
the best presentations of the ideal governing the Athenian 
people, and indicates quite clearly the spirit and purpose 
of their education. Both Pericles and Thucydides were 
among the earlier products of the new Greek education — 
at least, both were profoundly influenced by it. The 
speeches of Pericles, especially those reported by Thucyd- 
ides, are clear samples of the results of the new education, 
showing evidently the influence of the rhetorical schools. 
But while the form of the speech is a product of new con- 
ditions, its content is one of the best presentations of 
the ideals of the old. The lives and deeds celebrated in 
the panegyric were the product of the old education. The 
passage is especially valuable as giving an analysis of 
those conditions which made possible the growth of the 
new type of education. Even under the old regime there 
was a place for the individuality of the citizen at Athens 
as there had not been elsewhere in Greece ; and while this 
individualism was wholly subject to the interests of the 
city state, it at least had a place under conditions which 
provided for its development. Thucydides was born 
about 471 B.C. and lived until the opening of the next 
century. He received rhetorical training from some of 
the earliest Sophists, Gorgias among others, but in the 
severity and conservatism of his ideas he belonged to the 
earlier period. The oration given is most probably his 
own work and not that of Pericles ; if of Pericles, it is 
rather the compilation of a number of speeches. Though 



Old Greek Education 9 

it may be designed for the reader of the history, rather 
than for the audience of occasion, it reflects accurately the 
spirit of such occasions and the character of the times. 
While Pericles, both in his training and in his life, was 
more clearly than Thucydides a product of the newer edu- 
cation, it would not be inconsistent that on such an occasion 
he should express the dominant characteristics of the old. 
Irrespective of its authorship, this oration can be taken 
as an exposition of the ideals and results of the old 
education. 

Spartan Education was almost identical with Spartan life 
in general. Sparta was practically a military camp organ- 
ized for the training of warriors. The Spartans were a 
small group of conquerors among a large subject popula- 
tion. Their national existence depended upon the military 
excellence of their citizens, and their whole life was organ- 
ized to this end. The home was practically abohshed, and 
for it was substituted the camp or school. While there 
was no definite school, all of childhood was a schooling, 
definitely systematized for educational purposes; and the 
chief occupation of the adults, aside from their military 
life, was the education of the younger generation. This 
education was almost wholly physical and moral. It was 
narrow but intense, producing the highest and most per- 
manent results that have ever been attained along these 
restricted lines. Above all, it meant the production of 
individuals wholly subject to the state. Next to this idea 
of the complete subordination of the welfare of the indi- 
vidual to that of the community, came the Spartan ideal of 
physical bravery, power, and endurance. Patriotism and 
sacrifice of the individual to the common welfare were 
inculcated throughout life and in every incident and inter- 



lo Source Book of the History of Education 

est in life. The physical results were obtained through the 
definite training that was a substitute for all school work. 
This rigid discipline began from the day of birth, but 
for the first seven years the boy remained in the charge of ■ 
the mother. Thereafter he was in the charge of selected | 
state officials that were responsible for his physical and 
moral education. The boys were trained in companies, 
lived in public barracks, and ate at common tables. 
These companies were under immediate command of boys 
of an older age, though the general supervision of adults 
was never absent. The training consisted of a definite 
system of exercises and games, of a more military char- 
acter after the age of twelve, and wholly so from the 
eighteenth or twentieth year, during which time the youth 
lived in barracks or was engaged in actual military service. 
In time of peace this service was in the nature of police or 
garrison duties. Only at the thirtieth year were the youths 
admitted into full citizenship. ^ The moral training aimed 
to produce self-control in action and speech, endurance, 
reverence, a spirit of patriotic self-sacrifice, dignity of 
action, and subjection of all emotional expression. Such 
results were obtained by a constant association with others 
of the same age under the close supervision of the elders 
at their meals, at their games, in public dances of military 
character, in religious services of choral character, in 
their sports, especially hunting, and in their barrack life. 
After the age of twelve, boys were trained to provide for 
their own wants through the obligation resting upon 
them of contributing to the common mess and to the 
few comforts allowed in their sleeping quarters. In this 
elaborate state education there was little provision for 
the intellectual element save as it was incidental in the 



II 



Old Greek Edtication ii 

physical and moral training indicated above. There was 
practically no literary instruction. In the later centuries, 
however, it was customary, or at least not unusual, for read- 
ing and writing to be taught, though aside from the state 
education. Otherwise the intellectual training was received 
in committing to memory and mastering the Laws of Lycur- 
gus, — these being handed down from one generation to 
another through several centuries in the verbal form, — 
the national hymns and choruses, and later the poems of 
the few native writers held in repute. 

As with all the Greeks the content of Spartan educa- 
tion was included in music, gymnastic, and dancing. 
But music was a much narrower term than it came to be 
elsewhere, and never contained more than the rudiments 
of a literary education. 

The details of this system of education are given in 
full in the selection from Plutarch. This education, intro- 
duced in the ninth century B.C. was largely responsible 
for the military power of Sparta. It lost much of its 
rigidity after the Peloponnesian War, and ceased to have 
any force by the opening of the second century B.C. 

Athenian Education of the old period was similar to 
the Spartan education in its simplicity of aim and narrow- 
ness of content, but not in its organization or in its sta- 
tionary character. While the details of Spartan education 
were quite full, the sources on early Athenian education 
leave much to be desired. The selections from the speech 
of Protagoras give a general outline, but few details. 
Education was public only in so far as it was subject to 
close state supervision of the general results to be ex- 
pected of home training or individual private institutions. 
It could be given in the home, but was more commonly 



12 Source Book of the History of Education 

obtained in private schools. In contradistinction to the 
general authority and responsibility of adults at Sparta, 
a law of Solon forbade any adult save teachers and peda- 
gogues entering the school. There was not the training 
in large groups as at Sparta, though the ability to act in 
common and the community sentiment were developed 
to some extent through the religious chorus, dance, and 
procession. Athenian education was neither so severe 
nor so prolonged as that at Sparta, and, after the fifteenth 
or sixteenth year, it permitted much greater freedom. 

As elsewhere in Greece, formal education included 
music and gymnastic, perhaps with dancing as a third 
branch, though it was but a combination of the other 
two. Gymnastic was less important and less military in 
character than at Sparta. The purpose of gymnastic was 
the development of a sound and beautiful physique, not 
simply the making of a warrior. Beauty and grace, quite 
as well as power of endurance, entered into the aims. 
The exercises were less rigid and more varied, consisting 
in running, discus throwing, javelin casting, and wrestHng, 
to which should be added dancing as a culmination and 
combination of the other phases of their training. By 
these exercises there were to be obtained health and 
strength, beauty and grace, and, in addition, the self- 
possession and dignity of bearing that were but the out- 
ward manifestations of the moral results of this physical 
training. Music included the remainder of their formal 
education. But even in this early period music was a 
much broader term than at Sparta. It always included 
the literary element, at least reading, writing, and the 
mastery of the Homeric writings. Later, other national 
hterature was introduced, so that this literary education 



\. 



I 



Old Greek Education 13 



would mean a familiarity with national myths, religious 
customs, and laws. While music was a term applicable to 
.all the interests of the nine muses, it meant music in the 
,! restricted sense as well. Along with reading went instruc- 
tion in playing the lyre and in singing, for the three were 
combined to a considerable extent. It is not until the 
later period that the literary element becomes the promi- 
unent factor, and that the use of musical instruments other 
than the simple one for accompanying the voice was intro- 
duced. The method of these schools was little more than 
simple training through imitation. Of elaborate literary 
iinstruction there was none. The work in literature con- 
sisted in memorizing the Homeric poems and in repeating 
them with appropriate musical accompaniments. At fif- 
;teen and sixteen the boy devoted the greater part of his 
ttime to gymnastic, and passed from the palaestra into 
the gymnasium for advanced physical training, association 
with adults in the agora being substituted for the music 
sschool. At eighteen the ephebic stage was reached, 
^when the oath given in the selections (p. 33) was admin- 
iistered, and the youth entered on the last stage of appren- 
ticeship for citizenship. This period included a two 
years' military service in guard and police duty, mostly in 
t.the rural regions. At twenty he was admitted to full 
ccitizenship. 

While this education was more literary in character than 
the Spartan, its dominant motive was moral and social. 
lilts whole purpose was preparation for active Athenian 
citizenship, but a citizenship which demanded political as 
well as military services. The influence of these poHtical 
:obligations upon the character of the youth and the citizen 
is emphasized in the oration of Pericles. The dominant 



14 Source Book of the History of Education 

moral purpose of the musical and literary training is em- 
phasized in the argument of Protagoras. The intellectual 
or rational element had little place. The old myths and 
legends formed the basis of the work of the music schools, 
and the inculcation of reverence for them gave the chief 
reason for the existence of these schools. It was not in- 
tellectual power, but reverence, loyalty, and temperance 
in word and deed, that constituted the educational aim. 
That these results were to be obtained, not by complete 
suppression of the individual but by his development, is 
the key-note to the oration of Pericles. But it was in no 
sense the individualism of the later age in the dawn of 
which Pericles himself lived ; it was an individualism 
gained through participation in all social activities, politi- 
cal, religious, and military, and always under the dominance 
of a rigid public opinion upholding the traditional social 
morality. The freedom of the individual did not consist 
in the liberty to determine his moral standards, his reli- 
gious ideas, or his civic or social activities. In respect to 
the means for attaining to these recognized and approved 
standards there was also freedom, as we have already seen. 
Hence the wide divergence from Sparta in the organiza- 
tion and rigidity of detail in education. 

Though the old education passed into the new practically 
with the beginning of the literary period at Athens, the 
general nature of the elementary education remained much 
the same. Hence in the selections from the later period 
there is much evidence relating to the earlier. In Aris- 
tophanes the old is set over in contrast against the new. 
Aristotle writes, not as an idealist, but as a scientist, ex- 
plaining the nature of and the reason for many of the old 
practices. For this reason there is in his discussion a clear 



p 



Old Greek Education 15 



exposition of certain phases of the old practices. In these 
respects the later selections will, therefore, furnish addi- 
tional material relating to the simple education of this 
early period. 

Selections from the Life of Lycurgus by Plutarch ^ 

... It was not left to the father to rear what children 
he pleased, but he was obliged to carry the child to a place 
called Lesche,^ to be examined by the most ancient men of 
the tribe who were assembled there. If it were strong and Care of 
well proportioned, they gave orders for its education, and infants, 
assigned it one of the nine thousand shares of land; but if 
it were weakly and deformed, they ordered it to be thrown 
into the place called Apothetae, which is a deep cavern 
near the mountain Taygetus, concluding that its life could 
be no advantage either to itself or to the public, since 
nature had not given it at first any strength or goodness 
of constitution. For the same reason the women did not 
wash their new-born infants with water, but with wine, 
thus making some trial of their habit of body — imagining 
that sickly and epileptic children sink and die under the 
experiment, while healthy become more vigorous and hardy. 
Great care and art were also exerted by the nurses ; for, as 
they never swathed the infants, their limbs had a freer turn 
land their countenances a more liberal air; besides, they 
lused them to any sort of meat, to have no terrors in the 
dark, nor to be afraid of being alone, and to leave all ill- 
humour and unmanly crying. . . . The Spartan children 
were not in that manner under tutors purchased or hired 
with money, nor were the parents at liberty to educate Training o 
them as they pleased ; but as soon as they were seven ^^^ Sparta 
years old, Lycurgus ordered them to be enrolled in com- 
panies, where they were all kept under the same order and 
discipline, and had their exercises and recreations in com- 
mon. He who showed the most conduct and courage 
amongst them was made captain of the company. The 
rest kept their eyes upon him, obeyed his orders, and bore 

1 The Laiighorne translation. 2 place of public conversation. 



1 6 Source Book of the History of Education 

with patience the punishments he inflicted ; so that their 
whole education was an exercise of obedience. The old 
men were present at their diversions, and often suggested 
some occasion of dispute or quarrel that they might ob- 
serve with exactness the spirit of each and their firmness 
in battle. 

As for learning, they had just what was absolutely neces- 
sary. All the rest of their education was calculated to make 
them subject to command, to endure labour, to fight and 
conquer. They added, therefore, to their discipline as 
they advanced in age — cutting their hair very close, mak- 
ing them go barefoot, and play, for the most part, quite 
naked. At twelve years of age their undergarment was 
taken away, and one upper one a year allowed them. 
Hence, they were necessarily dirty in their persons, and 
not indulged the great favour of baths and oil except on 
some particular days of the year. They slept in compa- 
nies, on beds made of the tops of reeds which they gath- 
ered with their own hands, without knives, and brought 
from the banks of the Eurotas.^ In winter they were per- 
mitted to add a little thistle-down, as that seemed to have 
some warmth in it. 

At this age the most distinguished amongst them became 
the favourite companions of the elder ; and the old men at- 
tended more constantly their places of exercise, observing 
their trials of strength and wit, not slightly and in a cur- 
sory manner, but as their fathers, guardians, and governors ; 
so that there was neither time nor place where persons were 
wanting to instruct and chastise them. One of the best and 
ablest men in the city was, moreover, appointed inspector 
of the youth, and he gave the command of each company 
to the discreetest and most spirited of those, called Irens. 
An Iren was one that had been two years out of the class 
of boys ; a Melliren, one of the oldest lads. This Iren 
then, a youth twenty years old, gives orders to those under 
his command in their little battles, and has them to serve 
him at his house. He sends the oldest of them to fetch 
wood, and the younger to gather pot-herbs; these they 
steal where they can find them, either sHly getting into 
gardens, or else craftily and warily creeping to the common 

1 Chief river of Laconia, on which Sparta was situated. 



Old Greek Education 17 

tables. But if any one be caught, he is severely flogged for 
negligence or want of dexterity. They steal, too, whatever 
victuals they possibly can, ingeniously contriving to do it 
when persons are asleep or keep but indifferent watch. If 
they are discovered, they are punished not only with whip- 
ping, but with hunger ; indeed, their supper is but shght 
at all times, that, to fence against want, they may be 
forced to exercise their courage and address. This is the 
first intention of their spare diet ; a subordinate one is to 
make them grow tall. For when the animal spirits are 
not too much oppressed by a great quantity of food, which 
stretches itself out in breadth and thickness, they mount 
upwards by their natural lightness, and the body easily 
and freely shoots up in height. This also contributes to 
make them handsome; for thin and slender habits yield 
more freely to nature, which then gives a fine proportion 
to the limbs, whilst the heavy and gross resist her by their 
weight. . . . 

The boys steal with so much caution, that one of them, 
having conveyed a young fox under his garment, suffered 
the creature to tear out his bowels with his teeth and 
claws, choosing rather to die than be detected. Nor does 
this appear incredible, if we consider what their young 
men can endure to this day ; for we have seen many of 
ithem expire under the lash at the altar of Diana Orthia. 

The Iren, reposing himself after supper, used to order 
some of the boys to sing a song; to another he put some 
question which required a judicious answer, for example: 
"Who was the best man in the city.?" or, "What he 
thought of such an action .? " This accustomed them from 
their childhood to judge of the virtues, to enter into the 
affairs of their countrymen. For if one of them was asked, 
"Who is a good citizen, or who an infamous one.?" and 
hesitated in his answer, he was considered as a boy of slow 
[parts, and of a soul that would not aspire to honour. The 
answer was likewise to have a reason assigned for it, and 
proof conceived in few words. He whose account of the 
matter was wrong, by way of punishment had his thumb 
bit by the Iren. The old men and magistrates often at- 
tended these little trials, to see whether the Iren exercised 
Ibis authority in a rational and proper manner. He was 



1 8 Source Book of the History of Education 

permitted, indeed, to inflict the penalties ; but when the 
boys were gone, he was to be chastised himself if he had 
punished them either with too much severity or remiss- 
ness. 
Relation of The adopters of favourites also shared both in the hon- 
inspirer and our and disgrace of their boys : and one of them is said 
■^' to have been mulcted by the magistrates because the boy 

whom he had taken into his affections let some ungenerous 
word or cry escape him as he was fighting. This love was 
so honourable and in so much esteem, that the virgins, too, 
had their lovers amongst the most virtuous matrons. A 
competition of affection caused no misunderstanding, but 
rather a mutual friendship between those that had iixed 
their regards upon the same youth, and a united endeavour 
to make him as accomplished as possible. 

The boys were also taught to use sharp repartee, sea- 
soned with humour, and whatever they said was to be con- 
cise and pithy. For Lycurgus, as we have before observed, 
fixed but a small value on a considerable quantity of his 
iron money ; but, on the contrary, the worth of speech was 
to consist of its being comprised in a few plain words, preg- 
nant with a great deal of sense; and he contrived that by 
long silence they might learn to be sententious and acute 
in their replies. As debauchery often causes weakness 
and sterility in the body, so the intemperance of the tongue 
makes conversation empty and insipid. King Agis,^ there- 
fore, when a certain Athenian laughed at the Lacedaemo- 
nian short swords, and said, "The jugglers would swallow 
them with ease upon the stage," answered in his laconic 
way, " And yet we can reach our enemies' hearts with 
them." Indeed, to me there seems to be something in 
this concise manner of speaking, which immediately 
reaches the object aimed at, and forcibly strikes the mind 
of the hearer. Lycurgus himself was short and senten- 
tious in his discourse, if we may judge by some of his 
answers which are recorded ; that, for instance, concern- 
ing the constitution. When one advised him to establish 
a popular government in Lacedaemon, "Go," said he, 

1 Reigned 244-240 B.C. In his attempt to reinstate the policy of these 
early laws, he was defeated by Leonidas II., thrown into prison, and killed. 



Old Greek Education 



19 



" and first make a trial of it in thine own family." That, 
again, concerning sacrifices to the Deity, when he was 
asked why he appointed them so trifling and of so lit- 
tle value, " That we may never be in want," said he, " of 
something to offer him." Once more, when they inquired 
of him what sort of martial exercises he allowed of, he 
answered, "All except those in which you stretch out your 
hands." Several such-like replies of his are said to be 
taken from the letters which he wrote to his countrymen : 
as to their question, " How shall we best guard against the 
invasion of an enemy .'' " " By continuing poor, and not 
desiring in your possessions to be one above another." And 
to the question, whether they should enclose Sparta with 
walls, " That city is well fortified which has a wall of men 
instead of brick." Whether these and some other letters 
ascribed to him are genuine or not, is no easy matter to 
determine. However, that they hated long speeches, the 
following apophthegms are a farther proof. King Leoni- 
das ^ said to one who discoursed at an improper time 
about affairs of some concern, " My friend, you should not 
talk so much to the purpose of what it is not now to the 
purpose to talk of." Charilaus, the nephew of Lycurgus, 
being asked why his uncle had made so few laws, answered, 
" To men of few words, few laws are sufficient." Some 
people finding fault with Hecatseus the sophist, because 
when admitted to one of the pubhc repasts he said nothing 
all the time, Archidamidas replied, "He who knows how to 
speak, knows also when to speak." . . . 

This was the manner of their apophthegms : so that it 
has been justly enough observed that the term lakonizein 
(to act the Lacedaemonian) is to be referred rather to the 
exercises of the mind than those of the body. 

Nor were poetry and music less cultivated among them 
than a concise dignity of expression. Their songs had a 
spirit which could rouse the soul, and impel it in an enthu- 
siastic manner to action. The language was plain and 
manly, the subject serious and moral. For they consisted 
chiefly of the praises of heroes that had died for Sparta, or 



1 Succeeded Areus on the throne of Sparta, 257 B.C. For a time compelled 
to resign by his colleague Agis. Died 230 B.C. 



20 Source Book of the History of Educatio7t 



Spartans 
were less 
severe when 
on cam- 
paigns. 



else of expressions of detestation for such wretches as had 
declined the glorious opportunity, and rather chose to drag 
on life in misery and contempt. Nor did they forget to 
express an ambition for glory suitable to their respective 
ages. . . . 

And the king always offered sacrifice to the muses before 
a battle, putting his troops in mind, I suppose, of their early 
education, and of the judgment that would be passed upon 
them, as well as that those divinities might teach them to 
despise danger, while they performed some exploit fit for 
them to celebrate. 

On those occasions they relaxed the severity of their 
discipline, permitting their men to be curious in dressing 
their hair, and elegant in their arms and apparel, while 
they expressed their alacrity, like horses full of fire and 
neighing for the race. They let their hair, therefore, grow 
from their youth, but took more particular care when they 
expected an action to have it well combed and shining ; « 
remembering a saying of Lycurgus, that a large head of bI 
hair made the handsome more graceful, and the ugly more 
terrible. The exercises, too, of the young men during the 
campaigns were more moderate, their diet not so hard, and 
their whole treatment more indulgent : so that they were 
the only people in the world with whom military discipline ■ 
wore in time of war a gentler face than usual. When the ■ 
army was drawn up, and the enemy near, the king sacri- 
ficed a goat, and commanded them all to set garlands upon 
their heads, and the musicians to play Castor's march, while 
himself began the pcsan, which was the signal to advance. 
It was at once a solemn and dreadful sight to see them 
measuring their steps to the sound of music, and without 
the least disorder in their ranks or tumult of spirits, mov- 
ing forward cheerfully and composedly, with harmony, to 
battle. Neither fear nor rashness was likely to approve 
men so disposed, possessed as they were of a firm pres- 
ence of mind, with courage and confidence of success, as 
under the conduct of heaven. When the king advanced 
against the enemy he had always with him some one that 
had been crowned in the pubhc games of Greece. And 
they tell us that a Lacedaemonian, when large sums were 
offered him on condition that he would not enter the 



Old Greek Education 



21 



Olympic lists, refused them : having with much difficulty- 
thrown his antagonist, one put this question to him — " Spar- 
tan, what will you get by this victory ? " He answered with 
a smile, " I shall have the honour to fight foremost in the 
ranks before my prince." When they had routed the 
enemy, they continued the pursuit till they were assured of 
the victory ; after that they immediately desisted, deeming 
it neither generous nor worthy of a Grecian to destroy 
those who made no farther resistance. This was not only 
a proof of magnanimity, but of great service to their cause. 
For when their adversaries found that they killed such as 
stood it out, but spared the fugitives, they concluded 
that it was better to fly than to meet their fate upon the 
spot. . . . 

The discipline of the Lacedaemonians continued after 
they were arrived at years of maturity. For no man was 
at liberty to live as he pleased ; the city being like one 
great camp, where all had their stated allowance, and knew 
their public charge, each man concluding that he was born, 
not for himself, but for his country. Hence, if they had 
no particular orders, they employed themselves in inspect- 
ing the boys, and teaching them something useful, or in 
learning of those that were older than themselves. One 
of the greatest privileges that Lycurgus procured his 
countrymen, was the enjoyment of leisure, the consequence 
of his forbidding them to exercise any mechanic trade. It 
was not worth their while to take great pains to raise a for- 
tune, since riches were of no account : and the Helotes,^ 
who tilled the ground, were answerable for the produce 
above-mentioned. To this purpose we have a story of a 
Lacedaemonian, who, happening to be at Athens while the 
court sat, was informed of a man who was fined for idle- 
ness ; and when the poor fellow was returning home in 
great dejection, attended by his condoling friends, he 
desired the company to show him the person that was con- 
demned for keeping up his dignity. So much beneath 
them they reckoned all attention to mechanic arts and all 
desire of riches ! . . . 



Wherein 
Spartan 
honor 
consisted. 



Occupation 
of the men. 



^ Spartan serfs, the original owners of the land, 
for the Spartans. 



They cultivated the lands 



2 2 Source Book of the History of Education 

Upon the whole, he taught his citizens to think nothing 
more disagreeable than to live by (or for) themselves. 
Like bees, they acted with one impulse for the pubHc good, 
and always assembled about their prince. They were pos- 
sessed with a thirst of honour, an enthusiasm bordering upon 
insanity, and had not a wish but for their country. These 
sentiments are confirmed by some of their aphorisms. 
When Paedaretus lost his election for one of the three 
hundred, he went away rejoicing that there were three 
hundred better men than himself found in the city. Pisis- 
tratidas going with some others, ambassador to the king of 
Persia's lieutenants, was asked whether they came with a 
public commission, or on their own account ; to which he 
answered, " If successful, for the pubHc ; if unsuccessful, 
for ourselves." . . . 

Thus far, then, we can perceive no vestiges of a dis- 
regard to right and wrong, which is the fault some people 
find with the laws of Lycurgus, allowing them well enough 
calculated to produce valour, but not to promote justice. 
Perhaps it was the Cryptia,^ as they called it, or ambuscade, 
if that was really one of this lawgiver's institutions, as 
Aristotle says it was, which gave Plato so bad an impres- 
sion both of Lycurgus and his laws. The governors of 
the youth ordered the shrewdest of them from time to time 
to disperse themselves in the country, provided only with 
daggers and some necessary provisions. In the daytime 
they hid themselves and rested in the most private places 
they could find, but at night they sallied out into the roads 
and killed all the Helotes they could meet with. Nay, 
sometimes by day they fell upon them in the fields, and 
murdered the ablest and strongest of them. Thucydides 
relates in his history of the Peloponnesian War, that the 
Spartans selected such of them as were distinguished for 
their courage, to the number of two thousand or more, 
declared them free, crowned them with garlands, and con- 
ducted them to the temples of the gods ; but soon after 
they all disappeared, and no one could, either then or 
since, give account in what manner they were destroyed. 



1 A custom which permitted the ephors at night to fall upon the Helots 
and kill them. Its purpose was miHtary training for the Spartan youths. 



Old Greek Education 



23 



Aristotle particularly says, that the ephori,^ as soon as they 
were invested in their ofifice, declared war against the 
Helotes, that they might be massacred under pretence of 
law. In other respects they treated them with great inhu- Cruelty of 
manity ; sometimes they made them drink until they were the ephori. 
intoxicated, and in that condition led them into the public 
halls, to show the young men what drunkenness was. They 
ordered them to sing mean songs, and to dance ridiculous 
dances, but not to meddle with any that were genteel and 
graceful. Thus they tell us that when the Thebans after- 
wards invaded Laconia, and took a great number of the 
Helotes prisoners, they ordered them to sing the odes of 
Terpander, Alcman,^ or Spendon the Lacedaemonian, but 
they excused themselves, alleging that it was forbidden by 
their masters. Those who say that a freeman in Sparta was 
most a freeman, and a slave most a slave, seem well to have 
considered the difference of states. But in my opinion, it 
was in after-times that these cruelties took place among the 
Lacedaemonians ; chiefly after the great earthquake, when, 
as history informs us, the Helotes joining the Messenians, 
attacked them, did infinite damage to the country, and 
brought the city to the greatest extremity. I can never 
ascribe to Lycurgus so abominable an act as that of the 
ambuscade. I would judge in this case by the mildness 
and justice which appeared in the rest of his conduct, to 
which also the gods gave their sanction. . . . 

It was not, however, the principal design of Lycurgus Principles 
that this city should govern many others, but he considered established 
its happiness, like that of a private man, as flowing from ^ ycurgus. 
virtue and self-consistency ; he therefore so ordered and 
disposed it, that by the freedom and sobriety of its inhabit- 
ants, and their having a sufficiency within themselves, its 
continuance might be the more secure. Plato, Diogenes, 
Zeno, and other writers upon government, have taken 
Lycurgus for their model ; and these have attained great 
praise, though they left only an idea of something excel- 
lent Yet he who not in idea and in words, but in fact, 



^ Five magistrates whose powers in Sparta corresponded to the Roman 
tribune. 

2 Chief poet of Sparta. Flourished about 630 B.C. 



24 Source Book of the History of Education 

produced a most inimitable form of government, and by 
showing a whole city of philosophers, confounded those 
' who imagine that the so much talked of strictness of a 
philosophic life is impracticable ; he, I say, stands in the 
rank of glory far before the founders of all the other 
Grecian states. 

The Funeral Oration of Pericles^ from Thucydides ^ 

The basis ' Most of those who have spoken here before me have 

°f^^^. commended the lawgiver who added this oration to our 

funtrar Other funeral customs ; 2 it seemed to them a worthy thing 
ceremonies, that such an honour should be given at their burial to the 
dead who have fallen on the field of battle. But I should 
have preferred that, when men's deeds have been brave, 
they should be honoured in deed only, and with such an 
honour as this public funeral, which you are now witness- 
ing. Then the reputation of many would not have been 
imperilled on the eloquence or want of eloquence of one, 
and their virtues beheved or not as he spoke well or ill. 
For it is difficult to say neither too little nor too much; 
and even moderation is apt not to give the impression of 
truthfulness. The friend of the dead who knows the facts 

1 Thucydides, Book II. par. 35-47. Jovvett translation. 

2 It was the custom of the Athenians to give pubUc burial to those who fell 
in battle. Thucydides describes these ceremonies as follows : — 

"Three days before the celebration they erect a tent in which the bones of 
the dead are laid out, and every one brings to his own dead any offering which 
he pleases. At the time of the funeral the bones are placed in chests of 
cypress wood, which are conveyed on hearses; there is one chest for each 
tribe. They also carry a single empty litter decked with a pall for all whose 
bodies are missing, and cannot be recovered after the battle. The procession 
is accompanied by any one who chooses, whether citizen or stranger, and the 
female relatives of the deceased are present at the place of interment and make 
lamentation. The public sepulchre is situated in the most beautiful spot out- 
side the walls; there they always bury those who fall in war; only after the 
battle of Marathon the dead, in recognition of their preeminent valour, were 
interred on the field. When the remains have been laid in the earth, some 
man of known ability and high reputation, chosen by the city, delivers a suita- 
ble oration over them; after which the people depart." 



Old Greek Education 



25 



is likely to think that the words of the speaker fall short 
of his knowledge and of his wishes ; another who is not so 
well informed, when he hears of anything which surpasses 
his own powers, will be envious and will suspect exaggera- 
tion. Mankind are tolerant of the praises of others so 
long as each hearer thinks that he can do as well or nearly 
as well himself, but, when the speaker rises above him, 
jealousy is aroused and he begins to be incredulous. 
However, since our ancestors have set the seal of their 
approval upon the practice, I must obey, and to the utmost 
of my power shall endeavour to satisfy the wishes and 
beliefs of all who hear me. 

' I will speak first of our ancestors, for it is right and 
becoming that now, when we are lamenting the dead, a 
tribute should be paid to their memory. There has never 
been a time when they did not inhabit this land, which by 
their valour they have handed down from generation to 
generation, and we have received from them a free state. 
But if they are worthy of praise, still more were our fathers, 
who added to their inheritance, and after many a struggle 
transmitted to us, their sons, this great empire. And we 
ourselves assembled here to-day, who are still most of us 
in the vigour of life, have chiefly done the work of improve- 
ment, and have richly endowed our city with all things, so 
that she is sufficient for herself both in peace and war. 
Of the military exploits by which our various possessions 
were acquired, or of the energy with which we or our 
fathers drove back the tide of war, Hellenic or Barbarian, 
I will not speak ; for the tale would be long and is familiar 
to you. But before I praise the dead, I should hke to 
point out by what principles of action we rose to power, 
and under what institutions and through what manner of 
life our empire became great. For I conceive that such 
thoughts are not unsuited to the occasion, and that this 
numerous assembly of citizens and strangers may profit- 
ably listen to them. 

' Our form of government does not enter into rivalry 
with the institutions of others. We do not copy our neigh- 
bours, but are an example to them. It is true that we are 
called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands 
of the many and not of the few. But while the law secures 



The great- 
ness of 
Athens due 
to the char- 
acter of her 
citizens and 
of her in- 
stitutions. 



The govern- 
ment is a 
democracy 
which 
rewards 
merit. 



26 Source Book of the History of Education 



Their 
enjoyment 
of life. 



Their 
militkry 
powers not 
gained by 
tyranny or 
isolation. 



equal justice to all alike in their private disputes, the claim 
of excellence is also recognised ; and when a citizen is in 
any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service,, 
not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of meritj 
Neither is poverty a bar, but a man may benefit his coun^ 
try whatever be the obscurity of his condition. There is 
no exclusiveness in our public life, and in our private inter- 
course we are not suspicious of one another, nor angry 
with our neighbour if he does what he likes ; we do not 
put on sour looks at him which, though harmless, are not 
pleasant. While we are thus unconstrained in our private 
intercourse, a spirit of reverence pervades our public acts ; 
we are prevented from doing wrong by respect for author- 
ity and for the laws, having an especial regard to those 
which are ordained for the protection of the injured as 
well as to those unwritten laws which bring upon the trans- 
gressor of them the reprobation of the general sentiment. 

' And we have not forgotten to provide for our weary 
spirits many relaxations from toil ; we have regular games 
and sacrifices throughout the year ; at home the style of 
our life is refined ; and the delight which we daily feel in 
all these things helps to banish melancholy. Because of 
the greatness of our city the fruits of the whole earth flow 
in upon us; so that we enjoy the goods of other countries 
as freely as of our own. 

' Then, again, our military training is in many respects 
superior to that of our adversaries. Our city is thrown 
open to the world, and we never expel a foreigner or pre- 
vent him from seeing or learning anything of which the 
secret if revealed to an enemy might profit him. We rely 
not upon management or trickery, but upon our own 
hearts and hands. And in the matter of education, where- 
as they from early youth are always undergoing laborious 
exercises which are to make them brave, we live at ease, 
and yet are equally ready to face the perils which they 
face. And here is the proof. The Lacedaemonians 
come into Attica not by themselves, but with their whole 
Confederacy following ; we go alone into a neighbour's 
country ; and although our opponents are fighting for their 
homes and we on a foreign soil, we have seldom any 
difficulty in overcoming them. Our enemies have never 



1 



Old Greek Education 27 

yet felt our united strength ; the care of a navy divides 
our attention, and on land we are obliged to send our own 
citizens everywhere. But they, if they meet and defeat a 
part of our army, are as proud as if they had routed us 
all, and when defeated they pretend to have been van- 
quished by us all. 

'If then we prefer to meet danger with a light heart The free 
but without laborious training, and with a courage which develop- 
is gained by habit and not enforced by law, are we not ^e"rcpres- 
greatly the gainers ? Since we do not anticipate the pain, sion of the 
although, when the hour comes, we can be as brave as individual, 
those who never allow themselves to rest ; and thus too ofVefr^ 
our city is equally admirable in peace and in war. For strength. 
we are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, 
and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness. 
Wealth we employ, not for talk and ostentation, but when 
there is a real use for it. To avow poverty with us is no 
disgrace ; the true disgrace iFTnl3oing nothing to avoid it. 
An "Athenian citizen does not neglect the state because 
he takes care of his own household ; and even those of us 
who are engaged in business have a very fair idea of 
politics. We alone regard a man who takes no interest in 
public affairs, not as a harmless, but as a useless charac- 
ter ; and if few of us are originators, we are all sound 
judges of a policy. The great impediment to action is, 
in our opinion, not discussion, but the want of that knowl- 
edge which is gained by discussion preparatory to action. 
For we have a peculiar power of thinking before we act 
and of acting too, whereas other men are courageous 
from ignorance but hesitate upon reflection. And they 
are surely to be esteemed the bravest spirits who, havingi 
the clearest sense both of the pains and pleasures of life,) 
do not on that account shrink from danger. In doing} 
good, again, we are unlike others ; Ave make our friends 
by conferring, not by receiving favours. Now he who 
confers a favour is the firmer friend, because he would 
fain by kindness keep alive the memory of an obhgation ; 
but the recipient is colder in his feelings, because he knows 
that in requiting another's generosity he will not be win- 
ning gratitude but only paying a debt. We alone do 
good to our neighbours not upon a calculation of interest, 



■ 



28 Source Book of the History of Education 



The 

resulting 
versatility 
of the 
Athenians. 



The praise 
of Athens 
is the praise 
of each 
Athenian 
citizen. 



but in the confidence of freedom and in a frank and fear- 
less spirit. To sum up : I say that Athens is the school 
of Hellas, and that the individual Athenian in his own 
person seems to have the power of adapting himself to 
the most varied forms of action with the utmost versatil- 
ity and grace. This is no passing and idle word, but truth 
and fact ; and the assertion is verified by the position to 
which these qualities have raised the state. For in the 
hour of trial Athens alone among her contemporaries is 
superior to the report of her. No enemy who comes 
against her is indignant at the reverses which he sustains 
at the hands of such a city ; no subject complains that 
his masters are unworthy of him. And we shall assuredly 
not be without witnesses ; there are mighty monuments 
of our power which will make us the wonder of this and 
of succeeding ages ; we shall not need the praises of 
Homer or of any other panegyrist whose poetry may 
please for the moment, although his representation of the 
facts will not bear the light of day. For we have com- 
pelled every land and every sea to open a path for our 
valour, and have everywhere planted eternal memorials of 
our friendship and of our enmity. Such is the city for 
whose sake these men nobly fought and died ; they could 
not bear the thought that she might be taken from them ; 
and every one of us who survive should gladly toil on her 
behalf. 

' I have dwelt upon the greatness of Athens because I 
want to show you that we are contending for a higher 
prize than those who enjoy none of these privileges, and 
to establish by manifest proof the merits of these men 
whom I am now commemorating. Their loftiest praise 
has been already spoken. For in magnifying the city I 
have magnified them, and men like them whose virtues 
made her glorious. And of how few Hellenes can it be 
said as of them, that their deeds when weighed in the 
balance have been found equal to their fame ! Methinks 
that a death such as theirs has been gives the true meas- 
ure of a man's worth ; it may be the first revelation of his 
virtues, but is at any rate their final seal. For even those 
who come short in other ways may justly plead the valour 
with which they have fought for their country ; they have 



Old Greek Education 



29 



All have 
preferred 
death to 
dishonor. 



blotted out the evil with the good, and have benefited the 
state more by their public services than they have injured 
her by their private actions. None of these men were 
enervated by wealth or hesitated to resign the pleasures 
of life ; none of them put off the evil day in the hope, 
natural to poverty, that a man, though poor, may one day 
become rich. But, deeming that the punishment of their 
enemies was sweeter than any of these things, and that 
they could fall in no nobler cause, they determined at the 
hazard of their lives to be honourably avenged, and to 
leave the rest. They resigned to hope their unknown 
chance of happiness ; but in the face of death they 
resolved to rely upon themselves alone. And when the 
moment came they were minded to resist and suffer, rather 
than to fly and save their lives ; they ran away from the 
word of dishonour, but on the battle-field their feet stood 
fast, and in an instant, at the height of their fortune, they 
passed away from the scene, not of their fear, but of their 
glory. 

'Such was the end of these men; they were worthy of The memory 
Athens, and the living need not desire to have a more 
heroic spirit, although they may pray for a less fatal issue. 
The value of such a spirit is not to be expressed in words. 
Any one can discourse to you for ever about the advan- 
tages of a brave defence which you know already. But 
instead of listening to him I would have you day by day 
fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens, until you 
become filled with the love of her ; and when you are 
impressed by the spectacle of her glory, reflect that this 
empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty 
and had the courage to do it, who in the hour of conflict 
had the fear of dishonour always present to them, and 
who, if ever they failed in an enterprize, would not allow 
their virtues to be lost to their country, but freely gave 
their lives to her as the fairest offering which they could 
present at her feast. The sacrifice which they collectively 
made was individually repaid to them ; for they received 
again each one for himself a praise which grows not old, 
and the noblest of all sepulchres — I speak not of that 
in which their remains are laid, but of that in which their 
glory survives, and is proclaimed always and on every 



and influ- 
ence of the 
martyr 
dead. 



30 Source Book of the History of Education 

fitting occasion both in word and deed. For the whole 
earth is the sepulchre of famous men ; not only are they 
commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own 
country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten 
memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts 
of men. Make them your examples, and, esteeming cour- 
age to be freedom and freedom to be happiness, do not 
weigh too nicely the perils of war. The unfortunate who 
has no hope of a change for the better has less reason 
I to throw away his life than the prosperous who, if he sur- 
I vive, is always liable to a change for the worse, and to 
' whom any accidental fall makes the most serious differ- 
ence. To a man of spirit, cowardice and disaster coming 
together are far more bitter than death striking him un- 
perceived at a time when he is full of courage and ani- 
mated by the general hope. 
Consolation ' Wherefore I do not now commiserate the parents of the 
for the dead who stand here ; I would rather comfort them. You 

the"eacL know that your life has been passed amid manifold vicissi- 
tudes ; and that they may be deemed fortunate who have 
gained most honour, whether an honourable death like 
theirs, or an honourable sorrow like yours, and whose 
days have been so ordered that the term of their happi- 
ness is likewise the term of their life. I know how hard 
it is to make you feel this, when the good fortune of 
others will too often remind you of the gladness which 
once lightened your hearts. And sorrow is felt at the 
want of those blessings, not which a man never knew, but 
which were a part of his life before they were taken from 
him. Some of you are of an age at which they may hope 
to have other children, and they ought to bear their sorrow 
better ; not only will the children who may hereafter be 
born make them forget their own lost ones, but the city 
will be doubly a gainer. She will not be left desolate, 
and she will be safer. For a man's counsel cannot have 
equal weight or worth, when he alone has no children to 
risk in the general danger. To those of you who have 
passed their prime, I say: "Congratulate yourselves that 
you have been happy during the greater part of your days ; 
remember that your life of sorrow will not last long, and 
be comforted by the glory of those who are gone. For 



Old Greek Education 31 

n 

the love of honour alone is ever young, and not riches, as \ 
some say, but honour is the delight of men when they are * 
old and useless." 

' To you who are the sons and brothers of the departed. Examples 
I see that the struggle to emulate them will be an ardu- ^^"^ ""''^ 
ous one. For all men praise the dead, and, however pre- 
eminent your virtue may be, hardly will you be thought, 
I do not say to equal, but even to approach them. The 
living have their rivals and detractors, but when a man 
is out of the way, the honour and good-will which he re- 
ceives is unalloyed. And, if I am to speak of womanly 
virtues to those of you who will henceforth be widows, let 
me sum them up in one short admonition : To a woman 
not to show more weakness than is natural to her sex is 
a great glory, and not to be talked about for good or for 
evil among men. 

' I have paid the required tribute, in obedience to the Athens' 
law, making use of such fitting words as I had. The tribute to 
tribute of deeds has been paid in part ; for the dead have ^ ^ ^"' 
been honourably interred, and it remains only that their 
children should be maintained at the public charge until 
they are grown up : this is the solid prize with which, as 
with a garland, Athens crowns her sons living and dead, 
after a struggle like theirs. For where the rewards of 
virtue are greatest, there the noblest citizens are enlisted 
in the service of the state. And now, when you have 
duly lamented, every one his own dead, you may depart.' 



Speech of Protagoras on " TeacJiing of Moi'als,'' from the 
Protagoras of Plato 

325 c-326 D. Education and admonition commence in The scope 
the first years of childhood, and last to the very end of Hfe. ^"^ '^^^J^' 
Mother and nurse and father and tutor are quarrelling about education, 
the improvement of the child as soon as ever he is able to 
understand them : he cannot say or do anything without 
their setting forth to him that this is just and that is unjust ; 
this is honourable, that is dishonourable ; this is holy, that 
is unholy ; do this and abstain from that. And if he obeys, 
well and good ; if not, he is straightened by threats and 



2,2 Source Book of the History of Edtication 



The music 
school. 



The school 
of gym- 
nastic. 



Public 

education of 
the ephebes. 



blows, like a piece of warped wood. At a later stage they 
send him to teachers, and enjoin them to see to his manners 
even more than to his reading and music ; and the teachers 
do as they are desired. And when the boy has learned his 
letters and is beginning to understand what is written, as 
before he understood only what was spoken, they put into 
his hands the works of great poets, which he reads at 
school ; in these are contained many admonitions, and 
many tales, and praises, and encomia of ancient famous 
men, which he is required to learn by heart, in order that 
he may imitate or emulate them and desire to become like 
them. Then, again, the teachers of the lyre take similar 
care that their young disciple is temperate and gets into no 
mischief ; and when they have taught him the use of the 
lyre, they introduce him to the poems of other excellent 
poets, who are the lyric poets ; and these they set to music, 
and make their harmonies and rhythms quite familiar to the 
children's souls, in order that they may learn to be more 
gentle, and harmonious, and rhythmical, and so more fitted 
for speech and action ; for the life of man in every part has 
need of harmony and rhythm. Then they send them to the 
master of gymnastic, in order that their bodies may better 
minister to the virtuous mind, and that they may not be 
compelled through bodily weakness to play the coward in 
war or on any other occasion. This is what is done by those 
who have the means, and those who have the means are 
the rich ; their children begin education soonest and leave off 
latest. When they have done with masters, the state again 
compels them to learn the laws, and live after the pattern 
which they furnish, and not after their own fancies ; and 
just as in learning to write, the writing-master first draws 
lines with a style for the use of the young beginner, and 
gives him the tablet and makes him follow the lines, so the 
city draws the laws, which were the invention of good law- 
givers who were of old time ; these are given to the young 
man, in order to guide him in his conduct whether as ruler 
or ruled ; and he who transgresses them is to be corrected, 
or, in other words, called to account, which is a term used 
not only in your country, but also in many others. Now 
when there is all this care about virtue private and public, 
why, Socrates, do you still wonder and doubt whether virtue 



d 



Old Greek Education 33 

can be taught ? Cease to wonder, for the opposite would 
be far more surprising. 

Oath of the Athenian Ephebes 

I will never disgrace these sacred arms, nor desert my 
companion in the ranks. I will fight for temples and public 
property, both alone and with many. I will transmit my 
fatherland, not only not less, but greater and better, than 
it was transmitted to me. I will obey the magistrates who 
may at any time be in power. I will observe both the existing 
laws and those which the people may unanimously hereafter 
make, and, if any person seek to annul the laws or to set them 
at nought, I will do my best to prevent him, and will defend 
them both alone and with many. I will honor the religion 
of my fathers. And I call to witness Agraulos,i Enyalios,^ 
Ares,3 Zeus, Thallo,* and Auxo,^ and Hegemone.^ 

1 Daughter of Cecrops and Angraulos. She threw herself from the Acropo- 
lis because an oracle had declared that the Athenians would conquer if some 
one would sacrifice himself for his country. 

2 A surname frequently given to Mars in the Iliad, and corresponding with 
the name Enyo given to Bellona. 

3 The Greek god of war, called Mars by the Romans. 

« Daughter of Zeus and Themis. Guarded and promoted the order of 
nature in the springtime. 

fi Auxo (increase) and Hegemone (queen) were the two graces worshipped 
at Athens. When the Athenian youth received his weapons of war he swore 
by them. 



r 



II. EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN GREECE 

Period and Source. — The social revolution of the fifth and 
fourth centuries b.c. affected the position of women as well 
as other aspects of Greek society, but the changes in the 
education of women were in no wise so profound as those 
affecting the education of men. It is true that there was 
a demand for greater freedom for women. Evidences of 
this are to be found in the teachings of Socrates and the 
writings of Plato. The latter held that the women pos- 
sessed the same faculties as men, only in a lesser degree, 
and were entitled to a similar education. In this respect 
he approved the practices of the Spartans. A distinct 
cult relating to the greater freedom and higher education 
of women seems to have centred about Apasia. But so 
far as these changes concern the status of married 
women, they appear to have been Umited to greater free- 
dom and responsibility in the home. Literary education 
and intellectual pursuits belonged only to those who were 
without the home circle, the hetcsrcB, and in such privi- 
leges they were placed in sharp opposition to the position 
of the wife. The approved education of the women in the 
home during the later period did not differ materially from 
that of the earlier period. There was permissible a greater 
attention to dress and the toilet, somewhat greater freedom 
in the home, and a greater responsibiHty in its management. 
But as a rule the sphere of woman's activities and the scope 
of her education were still very limited. Hence the descrip- 

34 



Education of Women in Greece 35 

tion of woman's education is essentially the same for the 
two periods of Grecian education that include the historic 
portion of independent existence of the nation. 

The description here given is taken from the Economics 
of Xenophon. Xenophon lived during the last quarter of the 
fifth century and the first half of the fourth, though the dates 
of his birth and of his death are unknown. Some authorities 
make the period of his life a quarter of a century earlier. 
However that may be, he writes from well within the period 
of the new practices. It has been suggested that this 
selection is but another evidence of a campaign for the 
rights of the "new woman," and as such is a source 
belonging to education of the later period only. But 
Xenophon was a conservative in almost every respect, 
and was an advocate of the old education for men, 
as will be seen in a later selection (p. 122). Moreover, 
the education here advocated for women is essentially 
the old education. It contains no intellectual training 
whatever, but is essentially a training in domestic duties. 
There is nothing to indicate that the education ad- 
vocated for the woman in the home should approximate 
in its freedom and intellectuality that allowed to the 
het<zrcB. It is, therefore, correct to take this passage 
as descriptive of the approved education of the Athenian 
woman in the earlier as well as in the later period, though 
as described by Xenophon this education is systematized 
and somewhat elaborated. 

The Economics is one of the so-called "Socratic " writings 
of Xenophon, and treats of the management of the house- 
hold. But it is rather an exposition of his own ideas than 
of those of his master, for concerning such practical 
affairs Xenophon was more of an authority than Socrates. 



s 

I 

r 



36 Source Book of the History of Education 

While in many respects Xenophon was a cosmopolitan in 
his treatment of this subject, in the main he is well within 
the old conservative Grecian practices. The description 
given is of an Athenian girl brought up in total ignorance 
of practical affairs, and, though kept in seclusion accord- 
ing to the old ideas, yet trained in some of the frivolous 
practices of the more degenerate times. The girl, thu 
neglected in her earlier training, is educated by her hus 
band as she should have been by her parents. This is 
one of the most striking and detailed accounts relating 
to education to be found in Greek literature. 

The Education of Women in Greece, as described in this 
passage from the Economics, relates specifically to Athens 
but is typically Grecian. References in the Homeric 
poems are indicative of the same practices in an earlierB 
stage of development. At Sparta a widely divergent 
type of education was found. There girls received an 
education similar to the boys, even in respect to gymnasti 
and rudimentary military training. Boys and girls were 
not educated together, but girls were under the discipline 
of women, as boys were of the men. These statements 
are made by Plutarch and others, though few details are 
given. There was, of course, this general difference in 
principle : men were educated with the sole idea of be- 
coming warriors ; women with the sole idea of becoming 
mothers of warriors. At Athens, women were educated 
for the home, hence their education was essentially a train- 
ing in domestic duties. The ideal of this education re- 
ceives a clear statement in the passage in Pericles' 
Funeral Oratioti : " . . . to a woman not to show more weak- 
ness than is natural to her sex is a great glory, and not 
to be talked about for good or evil among men." Such 



"4i 



Education of Women in Greece 37 

an education could be given only in the home. The 
literary and gymnastic schools were for boys. Woman's 
education was in the performance of household duties, 
and in the attainment of domestic virtues. In the later 
period, when the old moral, religious, and social ideas had 
lost much of their binding force, many Greek women did, 
to be sure, receive a literary education, but in so doing 
lost their place as the head of the household and the 
reverence that had been given them as such. The Grecian 
woman was never on an equality with her husband, as was 
true in many respects at Rome ; and when she attained or 
aspired to intellectual equality, it was at the sacrifice of 
the position in the home that she had, up to that time, 
held securely. The dialogue from the Economics gives 
an account of the approved education with as much de- 
tail as one could otherwise secure by a reconstruction 
from a great variety of isolated passages. In addition 
to supplying the details, it gives also the philosophy of 
this restricted education as it appeared to a keen, observ- 
ing, conservative Greek of the period, when both old and 
new could yet be compared. 

Selections from the Economics of Xenophon 

CHAPTER VII. THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 

I. "Observing him ^ therefore sitting one day in the 
portico of the temple of Jupiter Eleutherius,^ I went to- 
wards him, and as he seemed to me to be at leisure, sat 
down near him, and said, 'Why are you, Ischomachus, 

^ Ischomachus, a friend of Socrates, called y<n> z.\\^ good ; these terms indi- 
cate the ideal educated man. 

2 The temple of Zeus, "the Deliverer." After the battle of Plataea, 479 B.C., 
a special feast of liberty was instituted in honor of " the Deliverer." 



Why called 
" fair and 
good." 



Training of 
the girl. 



38 Source Book of the History of Education 

who are not accustomed to be idle, sitting thus ? for in 
general I see you either doing something, or certainly { 
not altogether wasting your time, in the market-place.^ j 
2 ' Nor would you now see me quite unoccupied, Socrates, 
said Ischomachus, ' if I had not made an appointment to 
wait here for some strangers.' ' But when you have no 
such engagements,' said I, 'where, in the name of heaven 
do you spend your time, and how do you employ yourself ? 
for I have the strongest desire to learn from you what it is 
you do that you are called >z> and ^^^^; since you cer-| 
tainly do not pass your life indoors, nor does your complexion! I 
look Uke that of a man who does so.' 3- Ischomachus, 
smiling at my inquiry, what do you do to be called fair and 
GOOD, and being pleased at it, as it seemed to me, rephed, 
' Whether people, when they talk together about me, give 
me that appellation, I do not know ; but certainly when 
they call upon me as to the antidosis^ of the duties of a| 
trierarch^ or choragus,^ no one summons me by the nameSI 
of FAIR and GOOD, but they designate me plainly as Ischo- 
machus, distinguishing me by the name of my father ; and 
as to what you ask me besides, Socrates, I assuredly do not 
spend my life indoors ; for,' added he, ' my wife is quite 
capable herself of managing what is to be done in my 
house.' 4. 'But,' said I, 'Ischomachus, I would very 
gladly be permitted to ask you whether you instructed 
your wife yourself, so that she might be qualified as she 
ought to be, or whether, when you received her from her 
father and mother, she was possessed of sufficient knowl- 
edge to manage what belongs to her.' 5. 'And how, 
my dear Socrates,' said he, 'could she have had sufficient 
knowledge when I took her, since she came to my house 
when she was not fifteen years old, and had spent the 
preceding part of her life under the strictest restraint, in 



1 An Athenian law which specified that if any person was called upon to 
take the duty of any public office, and could point out any person richer than 
himself, who ought to have been called upon instead of himself, he might 
summon that citizen to take the office or to exchange properties. 

2 Commander of a ship of war. 

3 The person who supplied a properly trained choir in the production of 
the tragedies or comedies. , 



Education of Women in Greece 39 

order that she might see as little, hear as little, and ask as 
few questions as possible ? 6. Does it not appear to you 
to be quite sufficient, if she did but know, when she came, 
how to take wool and make a garment, and had seen how 
to apportion the tasks of spinning among the maid-ser- 
vants ? for as to what concerns the appetite, Socrates,' 
added he, ' which seems to me a most important part of 
instruction both for a man and for a woman, she came to 
me extremely well instructed.' 7. ' But as to other things. Instruction 
Ischomachus,' said I, * did you yourself instruct your wife, °f "''^'^ ^y 
so that she should be quahfied to attend to the affairs belong- "^ ^" ' 
ing to her?' 'Not, indeed,' replied Ischomachus, 'until 
I had offered sacrifice, and prayed that it might be my for- 
tune to teach, and hers to learn, what would be best for 
both of us.' 8. 'Did your wife, then,' said I, 'join with 
you in offering sacrifice, and in praying for these bless- 
ings ? ' 'Certainly,' answered Ischomachus, 'and she 
made many vows to the gods that she would be such as 
she ought to be, and showed plainly that she was not 
likely to disregard what was taught her.' 9. 'In the 
name of the gods, Ischomachus, tell me,' said I, 'what 
you began to teach her first ; for I shall have more pleas- 
ure in hearing you give this account, than if you were to 
give me a description of the finest gymnastic or equestrian 
games.' 10. 'Well, then, Socrates,' returned Ischoma- 
chus, ' when she grew familiarized and domesticated with 
me, so that we conversed freely together, I began to ques- 
tion her in some such way as this : " Tell me, my dear 
wife, have you ever considered with what view I married 
you, and with what object your parents gave you to me.'' 

11. For that there was no want of other persons with 
whom we might have shared our respective beds must, I 
am sure, be evident to you as well as to me. But when I 
considered for myself, and your parents for you, whom we 
might select as the best partner for a house and children, 
I preferred you, and your parents, as it appears, preferred 
me, out of those who were possible ol3Jects of choice. 

12. If, then, the gods should ever grant children to be 
born to us, we shall then consult together, with regard to 

I them, how we may bring them up as well as possible ; for 
it will be a common advantage to both of us to find them 



As to their 

common 

interests. 



Duties of a 
wife in care 
of the house- 
hold: 



1 



40 Source Book of the History of Education 

of the utmost service as supporters and maintainers of our 
old age. 13. At present, however, this is our common 
household; for I deposit all that I have as in common 
between us, and you put everything that you have brought 
into our common stock. Nor is it necessary to consider 
which of the two has contributed the greater share ; but 
we ought to feel assured that whichsoever of us is the 
better manager of our common fortune will give the more 
valuable service." 14. To these remarks, Socrates, my 
wife replied, " In what respect could I cooperate with you .? 
What power have I .-* Everything lies with you. My 
duty, my mother told me, was to conduct myself dis' 
erectly." 15. "Yes, by Jupiter, my dear wife," replied I, 
" and my father told me the same. But it is the part of 
discreet people, as well husbands as wives, to act in such 
a manner that their property may be in the best possible 
condition, and that as large additions as possible may be 
made to it by honourable and just means." 16. "And 
what do you see," said my wife, " that I can do to assist in 
increasing our property .'' " " Endeavor by all means," 
answered I, " to do in the best possible manner those 
duties which the gods have qualified you to do, and which 
custom approves." 17. " And what are they .-' " asked she. 
"I consider," replied I, "that they are duties of no small 
importance, unless indeed the queen bee in a hive is 
appointed for purposes of small importance. 18. For to 
me," ' continued he, * " the gods, my dear wife," said I, 
" seem certainly to have united that pair of beings, which 
is called male and female, with the greatest judgment, that 
they may be in the highest degree serviceable to each other 
in their connexion. 19. In the first place, the pair are 
brought together to produce offspring, that the races of 
animals may not become extinct ; and to human beings, at 
least, it is granted to have supporters for their old age 
from this union. 20. For human beings, also, their mode 
of life is not, hke that of cattle, in the open air ; but they 
have need, we see, of houses. It is accordingly necessary 
for those who would have something to bring into their 
houses to have people to perform the requisite employ- 
ments in the open air ; for tilling, and sowing, and plant- 
ing, and pasturage are all employments for the open air ; 



w 



Education of Women in Greece 41 

and from these employments the necessaries of life are 
procured. 21. But when these necessaries have been 
brought into the house, there is need of some one to take 
care of them, and to do whatever duties require to be done 
under shelter. The rearing of young children also demands 
shelter, as well as the preparation of food from the fruits of 
the earth, and the making of clothes from wool. 22. And 
as both these sorts of employments, alike those without 
doors, and those within, require labour and care, the gods, 
as it seems to me," said I, " have plainly adapted the nature 
of the woman for works and duties within doors, and that 
of the man for works and duties without doors. 23. For 
the divinity has fitted the body and mind of the man to be 
better able to bear cold, and heat, and travelling, and mili- 
tary exercises, so that he has imposed upon him the work 
without doors ; and by having formed the body of the 
woman to be less able to bear such exertions, he appears 
to me to have laid upon her," said I, " the duties within 
doors. 24. But knowing that he had given the woman and in care 
by nature, and laid upon her, the office of rearing young of children, 
children, he has also bestowed upon her a greater portion 
of love for her newly-born offspring than on the man. 
25. Since, too, the divinity has laid upon the woman the 
duty of guarding what is brought into the house, he, 
knowing that the mind, by being timid, is not less adapted 
for guarding, has given a larger share of timidity to the 
woman than to the man ; and knowing also that if any one 
injures him who is engaged in the occupations without, he 
must defend himself, he has on that account given a 
greater portion of boldness to the man. 26. But as it is 
necessary for both alike to give and to receive, he has 
bestowed memory and the power of attention upon both 
impartially, so that you cannot distinguish whether the 
female or the male has the larger portion of them. 
27. The power of being temperate also in what is neces- 
sary he has conferred in equal measure upon both, and 
has allowed that whichsoever of the two is superior in 
this virtue, whether the man or the woman, shall receive 
a greater portion of the benefit arising from it. 28. But 
as the nature of both is not fully adapted for all these 
requirements, they in consequence stand in greater need 



42 Source Book of the History of Education 



Duties 
imposed 
upon the 
wife by 
divine, civil, 
and natural 
law. 



of aid from one another, and the pair are of greater service 
to each other, when the one is able to do those things in I 
which the other is deficient. 29. As we know, then, my \ 
dear wife," continued I, " what is appointed to each of us I 
by Providence, it is incumbent on us to discharge as welM 
as we can that which each of us has to do. I 

30. " ' " The law, too," I told her,' he proceeded, ' " gives| 
its approbation to these arrangements, by uniting the man ' 
and the woman ; and as the divinity has made them part- 
ners, as it were, in their offspring, so the law ordains them 
to be sharers in household affairs. The law also shows 
that those things are more becoming to each which thel 
divinity has quahfied each to do with greater facility; for*' 
it is more becoming for the woman to stay within doors 
than to roam abroad, but to the man it is less creditable to 
remain at home than to attend to things out of doors. 
31. And if any one acts contrary to what the divinity has 
fitted him to do, he will, while he violates the order of 
things, possibly not escape the notice of the gods, and will 
pay the penalty whether of neglecting his own duties or of • 1 
interfering with those of his wife. 32. The queen of thai 
bees," I added, "appears to me to discharge such duties 
as are appointed to her by the divinity." "And what 
duties," inquired my wife, " has the queen bee to perform, 
that she should be made an example for the business 
which I have to do } " 33. " She, remaining within the 
hive," answered I, " does not allow the bees to be idle, but 
sends out to their duty those who ought to work abroad ; 
and whatever each of them brings in, she takes cognizance 
of it and receives it, and watches over the store until there 
is occasion to use it ; and when the time for using it is come,J j 
she dispenses to each bee its just due. 34. She also"' 
presides over the construction of the cells within, that 
they may be formed beautifully and expeditiously. She 
attends, too, to the rising progeny, that they may be prop- 
erly reared ; and when the young bees are grown up, and 
are fit for work, she sends out a colony of them under some 
leader taken from among the younger bees." 35. "Will 
it then be necessary for me," said my wife, "to do .such 
things } " " It will certainly be necessary for you," said I, 
" to remain at home, and to send out such of the labourers 



Education of Woineji m Greece 43 

as have to work abroad, to their duties ; and over such as 
have business to do in the house you must exercise a watch- 
ful superintendence. 36. Whatever is brought into the 
house, you must take charge of it ; whatever portion of it 
is required for use you must give it out ; and whatever 
should be laid by, you must take account of it and keep, it 
safe, so that the provision stored up for a year, for exam- 
ple, may not be expended in a month. Whenever wool is 
brought home to you, you must take care that garments 
be made for those who want them. You must also be care- 
ful that the dried provisions may be in a proper condition 
for eating. 37. One of your duties, however," I added, 
"will perhaps appear somewhat disagreeable, namely, that 
whoever of all the servants may fall sick, you must take 
charge of him, that he may be recovered." 38. " Nay, 
assuredly," returned my wife, "that will be a most agree- 
able office, if such as receive good treatment are likely to 
make a grateful return, and to become more attached to 
me than before." Delighted with her answer,' continued 
Ischomachus, ' I said to her, " Are not the bees, my dear 
wife, in consequence of some such care on the part of the 
queen of the hive, so affected toward her, that, when she 
quits the hive, no one of them thinks of deserting her, but 
all follow in her train } " 39. " I should wonder, however," 
answered my wife, "if the duties of leader do not rather 
belong to you than to me ; for my guardianship of what is 
in the house, and distribution of it, would appear rather 
ridiculous, I think, if you did not take care that something 
might be brought in from out of doors." 40. " And on the 
other hand," returned I, " my bringing in would appear 
ridiculous, unless there were somebody to take care of 
what is brought in. Do you not see," said I, " how those 
who are said to draw water in a bucket full of holes are 
pitied, as they evidently labour in vain .-' " " Certainly," 
replied my wife, " for they are indeed wretched, if they 
are thus employed." 

41. " '" Some other of your occupations, my dear wife," Instruction 
continued I, " will be pleasing to you. For instance, when of servants 
you take a young woman who does not know how to spin, ^ ^ e wi e. 
and make her skilful at it, and she thus becomes of twice 
as much value to you. Or when you take one who is igno- 



44 Source Book of the History of Education 



Results of 

previous 

training. 



Importance 
of order in 
the house- 
hold. 



rant of the duties of a housekeeper or servant, and, having 
made her accomplished, trustworthy, and handy, render 
her of the highest value. Or when it is in your power to 
do services to such of your attendants as are steady and 
useful, while, if any one is found transgressing, you can 
inflict punishment. 42. But you will experience the great- 
est of pleasures, if you show yourself superior to me, and 
render me your servant, and have no cause to fear that, as 
life advances, you may become less respected in your house- ] 
hold, but may trust that, while you grow older, the better 
consort you prove to me, and the more faithful guardian of 
your house for your children, so much the more will you 
be esteemed by your family. 43. For what is good and 
honourable," I added, "gains increase of respect, not from 
beauty of person, but from merits directed to the benefit 
of human life." Such were the subjects, Socrates, on which, 
as far as I remember, I first conversed seriously with my 
wife.' 

Chapter viii 

I. "'Did you then observe, Ischomachus,' said I, 'that 
your wife was at all the more incited to carefulness by 
your remarks .'' ' ' Indeed I did,' replied Ischomachus, 
' and I saw her on one occasion greatly concerned and put 
to the blush, because, when I asked for something that 
had been brought into the house, she was unable to give 
it me. 2. Perceiving that she was in great trouble, 
however, I said, " Do not be cast down, my dear wife, 
because you cannot give me what I am asking you for. It 
is indeed pure poverty not to have a thing to use when you 
need it ; but our present want — not to be able to find a 
thing when you seek it — is of a less serious nature than 
not to seek it at all, knowing that it is not in your posses- 
sion. However," added I, " you are not in fault on the 
present occasion, but I, as I did not direct you, when I 
gave you the articles, where each of them ought to be 
deposited, so that you might know how you ought to 
arrange them and whence to take them. 3. There is 
indeed nothing, my dear wife, more useful or more credit- 
able to people than order. A chorus of singers and danc- 
ers, for instance, consists of a number of persons ; but 



Education of Women in Greece 45 

when they do whatever each of them happens to fancy, 
all appears confusion, and disagreeable to behold ; but 
when they act and speak in concert, the same persons 
prove themselves worthy of being seen and heard. ..." 
II. " ' I once saw, I think, the most beautiful and accu- 
rate arrangement of implements possible, Socrates, when 
I went on board that large Phoenician vessel to look over 
it; for I beheld a vast number of articles severally 
arranged in an extremely small space. 12. For the ship,' 
continued he, ' is brought into harbour and taken out 
again by means of various instruments of wood and tow ; 
it pursues its voyage with the aid of much that is called 
suspended tackle ; it is equipped with many machines to 
oppose hostile vessels ; it carries about in it many weapons 
for the men ; it conveys all the utensils, such as people use 
in a house, for each company that take their meals together ; 
and, in addition to all this, it is freighted with merchandise, 
which the owner of the ship transports in it for the purpose 
of profit. 13. And all the things of which I am speak- 
ing,' continued he, 'were stowed in a space not much larger 
than is contained in a room that holds half a score dinner- 
couches. Yet I observed that they were severally arranged 
:in such a manner that they were not in the way of one 
another, nor required anybody to seek for them, nor were 
unprepared for use, nor difficult to remove from their places, 
so as to cause any delay when it was necessary to employ 
them suddenly. 14. The pilot's officer, too, who is called 
the man of the prow, I found so well acquainted with the 
location of them all, that he could tell, even when out of 
sight of them, where each severally lay, and how many 
there were, not less readily than a man who knows his 
letters can tell how many there are in the name Socrates, 
and where each of them stands. 15. I saw,' pursued 
Ischomachus, * this very man inspecting, at his leisure, all 
the implements that it is necessary to use in a ship, and, 
wondering at his minute examination, I asked him what he 
was doing. " I am examining, stranger," said he, "in case 
anything should happen, in what state everything in the 
vessel is, and whether anything is wanting, or is placed so 
ias to be inconvenient for use. 16. For," said he, "there 
is no time, when heaven sends a storm over the sea, either 



46 Source Book of the History of Education 

to seek for what may be wanting, or to hand out what may 
be difficult to use ; for the gods threaten and punish the 
neghgent ; and if they but forbear from destroying those 
who do nothing wrong, we must be very well content; 
while, if they preserve even those that attend to everything 
quite properly, much gratitude is due to them." 17. I, 
therefore, having observed the accuracy of this arrange- 
ment, said to my wife, that it would be extremely stupid 
in us, if people in ships, which are comparatively small 
places, find room for their things, and, though they are 
violently tossed about, nevertheless keep them in order, 
and, even in the greatest alarm, still find out how to get 
what they want; and if we, who have large separate reposi- 
tories in our house for everything, and our house firmly 
planted on the ground, should not discover excellent and 
easily-found places for our several articles ; — how could 
this, I say, be anything but extreme stupidity in us ? 
The beauty 1 8. " *"How excellent a thing a regular arrangement of 
of order. articles is, and how easy it is to find, in a house, a place such 
as is suitable to put everything, I have sufficiently shown. 
19. But how beautiful an appearance it has, too, when 
shoes, for instance, of whatever kind they are, are arranged 
in order ; how beautiful it is to see garments, of whatever 
kind, deposited in their several places ; how beautiful it is 
to see bed-clothes, and brazen vessels, and table furniture, 
so arranged ; and (what, most of all, a person might laugh 
at, not indeed a grave person, but a jester), I say, that pots 
have a graceful appearance when they are placed in regu- 
lar order. 20. Other articles somehow appear, too, when 
regularly arranged, more beautiful in consequence ; for the 
several sorts of vessels seem like so many choral bands ; 
and the space that is between them pleases the eye, when 
every sort of vessel is set clear of it; just as a body of 
singers and dancers, moving in a circle, is not only in itself 
a beautiful sight, but the space in the middle of it, being 
open and clear, is agreeable to the eye. 21. Whether 
what I say is true, my dear wife," said I, "we may make 
trial, without suffering any loss, or taking any extraordi- 
nary trouble. Nor ought we at all to labour under the 
apprehension that it will be difficult to find a person who 
will learn the places for every article, and remember how 



Educatio7i of Women in Greece 



47 



to keep each of them separate ; 22. for we know very well 
that the whole city contains ten thousand times as much 
as our house, and yet, whichsoever of the servants you order 
to buy anything and bring it to you from the market-place, 
not one of them will be in perplexity, but every one will 
show that he knows whither he must go to fetch any 
article. For this," added I, " there is no other reason 
than that each article is deposited in its appointed place. 
23. But if you should seek for a person, and sometimes 
even for one who is on his part seeking you, you would 
often give up the search in despair before you find him ; 
and for this there is no other cause, than that it is not 
appointed where the particular person is to await you." 
Such was the conversation that I had with my wife, as far 
as I remember, concerning the arrangement and distinction 
of articles.' 

Chapter ix 

I. " 'And what was the result,' said I, *my dear Ischo- The instruc- 
machus.-* Did your wife appear to attend to any of the tionofthe 
matters which you took so much pains to impress upon ^erning"he 
her } ' ' What else did she do but promise that she would apartments 
attend to what I said, and manifest the greatest pleas- ofthehouse- 
ure, as if she had found relief from perplexity } and she * 
requested me to arrange the various articles, as soon as I 
could, in the manner which I had proposed.' 2. ' And 
how, Ischomachus,' said I, ' did you arrange them for 
her } ' * What else could I do but determine upon show- 
ing her, in the first place, the capacity of the house .-" For 
it is not adorned with decorations, but the apartments in 
it are constructed with such a view that they may be as 
convenient receptacles as possible for the things that are 
to be placed in them ; so that they themselves invite what- 
ever is adapted for them respectively. 3. Thus the inner 
chamber, being in a secure part of the house, calls for the 
most valuable couch coverings and vessels ; the dry parts 
of the building for the corn ; the cool places for the wine ; 
and the well-lighted portions for such articles of workman- 
ship, and vases, as require a clear light. 4. I pointed out 
to her, too, that the apartments for people to live in, which 
are well ornamented, are cool in the summer and exposed 



48 Source Book of the History of Education 



Duties of 
the wife in 
caring for 
houseiiold 
furnishings. 



to the sun in winter ; and I made her notice as to the 
whole house how it hes open to the south, so that it 
is plain it has plenty of sun in winter, and plenty of 
shade in summer. ... 6. When we had gone through 
these places,' he continued, * we then proceeded to classify 
our goods. We began by collecting, first of all, whatever 
we use for offering sacrifices ; after this, we arranged the 
dresses for women, such as are suited for festival days ; 
and then the equipments for men, as well for festivities as 
for warfare ; and next the bed-covering in the women's 
apartments, the bed-coverings in the men's apartments, 
the shoes for the women and the shoes for the men. 
7. Of utensils there were distinct collections, one of 
instruments for spinning, another of those for preparing 
corn, another of those for cooking, another of those for 
the bath, another of those for kneading bread, another of 
those for the table. These in general we divided into two 
sorts, such as we have to use constantly, and such as are 
required only at festal entertainments. 8. We also made 
one assortment of what would be used in a month, and 
another of what was computed to last for a year ; for in 
this way it is less likely to escape our knowledge how par- 
ticular things are expended. When we had thus distin- 
guished all our goods into classes, we conveyed them 
severally to the places best suited for them. 9. After- 
wards, whatever utensils the servants require daily, such 
as those for preparing corn, for cooking, for spinning, and 
any others of that sort, we pointed out to those who use 
them, the places where they were to put them, and then 
committed them to their keeping, charging them to keep 
them safely ; 10. but such as we use only for festival days, 
for entertaining guests, or only occasionally at long inter- 
vals, we committed, after pointing out the places for them, 
and numbering and making lists of them, to the house- 
keeper, and told her to give out any of them to whatever 
servant needed them, to bear in mind to which of them 
she gave any one, and, after receiving them back, to de- 
posit them respectively in the places from which she took 
them. 

II. '"Of the housekeeper we made choice after con- 
sidering which of the female servants appeared to have 



Education of Wo7nen in Greece 49 

most self-restraint in eating, and wine, and sleep, and con- 
verse with the male sex; and, in addition to this, which 
seemed to have the best memory, and which appeared to 
have forethought, that she might not incur punishment 
from us for neglect, and to consider how, by gratifying 
us, she might gain some mark of approbation in return. 
12. We formed her to entertain feeUngs of affection 
toward us, giving her a share in our pleasure when we had 
an occasion of rejoicing, and consulting her, if anything 
troublesome occurred, with reference to it. We also led 
her to become desirous of increasing our property, by 
stimulating her to take accounts of it, and making her in 
some degree partaker of our prosperity. 13. We also 
excited in her a love of honesty, by paying more respect 
to the well-principled than to the unprincipled, and show- 
ing her that they lived in greater plenty and in better 
style. We then installed her in her appointment. 14. But Training of 
in addition to all this, Socrates,' said he, ' I told my wife "^^^ wife as 
that there would be no profit in all these arrangements, fhe house° 
unless she herself took care that the appointed order for hold, 
everything should be preserved. I also instructed her 
that in the best-regulated political communities it is not • 
thought sufficient by the citizens merely to make good laws, 
but that they also appoint guardians of the laws, who, 
overlooking the state, commend him who acts in conform- 
ity with the laws, and, if any one transgresses the laws, 
punish him. 15. I accordingly desired my wife,' con- 
tinued he, *to consider herself the guardian of the laws 
established in the house, and to inspect the household 
furniture, whenever she thought proper, as the commander 
of a garrison inspects his sentinels ; to signify her appro- 
bation if everything was in good condition, as the senate 
signifies its approval of the horses and horse-soldiers ; to 
praise and honour the deserving Hke a queen, according 
to her means, and to rebuke and disgrace any one that 
required such treatment. 16. But I moreover admonished 
her,' added he, ' that she would have no reason to be 
displeased, if I imposed on her more trouble with regard 
to our property than I laid on the servants ; remarking 
to her, that servants have only so far a concern with their 
master's property as to carry it, or keep it in order, or 



50 Source Book of the History of Education 

take care of it; but that no servant has any power of 
using it unless his master puts it into his hands, while 
it belongs all to the master himself, so that he may use 
any portion of it for whatever purpose he pleases. 17. To 
him therefore that receives the greatest benefit from its, 
preservation, and suffers the greatest loss by its destruc- 
tion, I showed her that the greatest interest in its safety 
must belong.' 

18. " 'Well then, Ischomachus,' said I, 'how did your 
wife, on hearing these instructions, show herself disposed 
to comply with your wishes .'' ' ' She assured me, Soc- 
rates,' replied he, 'that I did not judge rightly of her, 
if I thought that I was imposing on her what was dis- 
agreeable, in telling her that she must take care of the 
property ; for she remarked,' said he, ' that it would have 
been more disagreeable to her if I had charged her to 
neglect her property, than if she were required to take 
care of the household goods. 19. For it seems to be 
a provision of nature,' concluded he, ' that as it is easier 
for a well-disposed woman to take care of her children 
than to neglect them, so it is more pleasing (as he thought, 
he said), for a right-minded woman to attend to her prop- 
erty, which, as being her own, affords her gratification, 
than to be neglectful of it.' 



Chapter x 

"On hearing that his wife had made him such a reply," 
proceeded Socrates, " I said, ' By Juno, Ischomachus, you 
show us that your wife is possessed of a manly understand- 
ing.' ' And accordingly,' returned Ischomachus, ' I wish 
to give you other instances of her extreme nobleness of 
mind, in matters in which she complied with my wishes 
after hearing them only once.' ' Of what nature were 
they } ' said I ; ' pray tell us : for it is a far greater pleas- 
ure to hear of the merit of a living woman, than if Zeuxis 
were to exhibit to me the most beautiful representation of 
a woman in a painting.' . . . 



III. THE NEW GREEK EDUCATION 

The Period. — The introduction of new educational ideas 
and practices was, of course, gradual, and no definite date 
can be assigned for the beginning of the period. But the 
transition that took place in Greek society, in the fifth 
century, particularly at Athens, was comparatively rapid. 
Athens, hereafter the centre of Greek life, was the centre 
of this change, though similar changes, less pronounced in 
character, occurred elsewhere. The discussion of the new 
education is, however, directly applicable only to Athens. 
The change may be said to have occurred in the period of 
Athenian political supremacy, between the close of the 
Persian Wars (479 B.C.) and the outbreak of the Pelopon- 
nesian War in 431 B.C. While the new ideas and practices 
became dominant, it was not without a struggle with the 
old, which had many worthy adherents throughout the fifth 
and the fourth centuries. The dominant educational char- 
acteristic of this period, then, was the conflict itself, in 
which the new practices always held the stronger posi- 
tion. The sources given in this section relate to this 
conflict. 

The new eductional ideas and practices were not limited 
I' to the fifth and fourth centuries, but were characteristic 
of Greek life thereafter. Yet this period of strife was dis' 
tinct from the period beginning with the Macedonian era, 
when the new education had become thoroughly estab- 
lished, and tended to become cosmopolitan as Greece 

51 



52 Source Book of the History of Education 

extended her sway in the world of intellect and art both 
to the east and the west. 

This period of the fifth and the fourth centuries had 
certain well-defined characteristics which may be included 
in the one, the growth of individuahsm. Foremost among 
these characteristics is the fact that Athens had now 
become thoroughly democratic in its political constitution 
and practices. The reforms of Pericles had completed 
the democratization begun earlier by Solon and Clisthenes. 
Every citizen was now qualified to hold office, and each 
was required to render political as well as military service. 
Upon the dicasts, or popular juries, six thousand citizens 
served each year. The functions of these dicasts were in 
private cases judicial ; but their decisions in pubhc affairs 
became not only judicial, but legislative. During this 
period Athens converted her leadership in the Delian 
league into an imperial control. This, while of but short 
duration, demanded an extension of political and diplomatic 
activities and a broadening of political and social ideas. It 
called for a wholly new type of ability, a versatility unknown 
and foreign to the earlier times. This leadership was 
gained and held by intellectual supremacy rather than by 
military power. Though the political leadership was lost, 
the intellectual supremacy was retained. Along with the 
political development went a commercial expansion and a 
massing of wealth through an industrial growth that gave 
a means of fostering intellectual and artistic activities. 
While there yet remained many evidences of intolerance 
of the democracy, as seen in the cases of Themistocles, 
Aristides, Socrates, Thucydides, and others, there went 
along with the political and commercial expansion a toler- 
ance in ideas that had not been characteristic of early 



The New Greek Education 53 

Athens. This tolerance extended to opinions as well as 
to actions, and as a result there developed a radical 
change in religious and ethical ideas. The period became 
one of scepticism, and the old religious myths and legends 
lost their social and religious value. With many there 
resulted simply the popular atheism of the times ; with 
others, an attempt at constructive ethical and religious 
thought. In this respect, Socrates was undoubtedly guilty 
of the popular charge of corrupting the youth. The 
destructive and critical tendency was popularly repre- 
sented by the Sophists. In another respect the con- 
structive effort constituted the most striking characteristic 
of the times, the change in the character of Grecian phi- 
losophy. Hitherto the interest had been in various inter- 
pretations of the material universe. The earlier systems 
of Grecian philosophy were attempts at such interpreta- 
tions. Now the interest became subjective ; attention was 
turned inward. Such questions were raised as the nature 
of knowledge, of opinion, of virtue, of justice. The 
centre of interest was man, not nature. This move- 
ment in its beginning was, in other words, more largely 
negative than positive ; it was a disbelief in the previous 
course of inquiry into the nature of the universe, even in 
the possibility of such knowledge at all. This general 
skepticism, which extended to reHgious as well as to 
intellectual affairs, was one of the conditions that aroused 
against the Sophists the bitter antagonism of the more 
conservative. One further characteristic of the period was 
the change in literature. The sixth and the first half of 
the fifth centuries were included in the great period of the 
tragic drama, which dealt with mythical and heroic charac- 
ters and with ethical themes. These dramas were religious 



54 Source Book of the History of Education 

ceremonies in themselves, and were religious and ethical 
in their nature and influence. In the middle of the fifth 
century the comedy was introduced, in which the charac- 
ters were representations of real personages drawn from 
contemporary life and treated with the greatest license. 
The comedy was essentially a comment on everyday life 
in Athens, but a comment made with the greatest freedom. 
In it were permitted the most scurrilous attacks on the 
character of citizens, on religion, on civic institutions. 
In respect to individuals greater freedom of speech was 
allowed at Athens than would be tolerated in any modern 
time. This freedom was undoubtedly abused, and hence 
arises the difficulty in using such sources. The last half 
of the fifth century was the period of the old comedy; 
the fourth century includes the period of the middle 
comedy, — the two practically constituting the period 
under discussion. 

Such profound changes as those indicated could not 
take place without affecting education in every aspect. 
These changes constitute the transition to the new educa- 
tion. 

The Sources. — The classic reference to this change 
is the Clouds of Aristophanes, and in the passage which 
contains the contest between the Just and the Unjust 
Causes there is the best presentation of this conflict 
from the conservative point of view that is to be found. 
It is, however, so obviously a presentation from one point 
of view that its interpretation is subject to many difficul- 
ties. The general view presented is undoubtedly that of 
the conservatives who held to the old practices. In some 
respects it expresses also the views held by the masses at 
that time (423 B.C.) in regard to the new teachers. The 



The New Greek Education 55 

representation of Socrates had much to do with the hostile 
attitude of the populace toward him, though his death was 
not decreed until twenty-four years later. 

Aristophanes lived from 444 to 381 B.C., practically the 
period of this transition. He is considered the greatest 
writer of Greek comedies. The Clouds is usually consid- 
ered to be his greatest work, though when presented in 
423 B.C. it received only third prize. Aristophanes was 
considered by the Greeks, by Plato among the rest, as one 
of their greatest men. His general attitude is one of high- 
est patriotism and of regard for civic uprightness and 
decency. While a comedian in the form of his art, he was 
a moralist in purpose and influence. The great number of 
passages in his writings that are utterly unworthy, accord- 
ing to modern criteria of taste, are to be explained, not 
only by the general character of his age, which in matters 
of morality was much below the standard of modern times, 
but also by the license of the comedy and of the Dionysiac 
festivals. Aristophanes' intensity of purpose and conser- 
vatism of view, together with the license of the occasions 
on which his comedy was presented, gives rise to the diffi- 
culties of interpretation. It is readily seen that his view 
of Socrates is but partial, though in selecting him as a type 
of those who were undermining old ideas and practices his 
judgment was correct. The question as to how far his view 
of the new educational ideas and their influences is in a 
similar way partial, is much more difficult to answer. The 
following principles of interpretation are suggested : His 
analysis of the old education, narrow and intense, but pro- 
ductive of great results, may be accepted. His view of the 
new education may be taken as essentially that of the con- 
servative element in society, backed by the prejudices of 



56 Source Book of the History of Edttcation 

the thoughtless multitude. His presentation of the char- 
acter of the Sophists and of Socrates is a biased one — 
a presentation based on a clear comprehension of the nega- 
tive results of their teachings, but at the same time showing 
no comprehension of the fact that positive advance could 
come only through a preceding critical movement. His 
misrepresentations of the Sophists are no more erroneous 
than those of Plato are now seen to be, though from a wholly- 
different point of view. As to the superficial results of the 
new education, his presentation may be taken as indicative 
of existing conditions, though even here there are evidently 
exaggerations. As a contrast between the long-tried re- 
sults of the old education and the superficial tendencies of 
the new, his views may be accepted as essentially correct. 
His indictment can be accepted even concerning the dis- 
integrating political effects and the demoraUzing and ir- 
religious social effects of the new education on the large 
portion of the populace that accepted the teachings. But 
in this connection it must be borne in mind that there is no 
correct presentation of the essential intellectual character- 
istics of the new education, or of the permanent ethical and 
religious advances that were to result therefrom ; and that, 
on the contrary, Aristophanes might be taken simply as a 
representative of the enemies of enlightenment and prog- 
ress, though he was correct in assuming that the progress 
was to be gained only by the destruction of the old religion 
and of national existence. 

Two other selections relating to this educational transi- 
tion are from the orations of Isocrates, himself a type of' 
the Sophists of the second generation when their educa- 
tional work was definitely formulated into schools. Isoc-^ 
rates was born 436 B.C., and was instructed by Prodicus, 



The New Greek Education 57 

Protagoras, Gorgias, and the other Sophists. In 392 b.c. 
he established a school in Athens, though he had 
taught elsewhere for twelve years. This school was largely 
attended by Athenians and other Grecians, and brought 
him wealth and great reputation. His influence was ex- 
erted, not through participation in actual public activities, 
but by means of orations prepared for circulation through- 
out Greece rather than for delivery on special occasions. 

The first of the selections here given is the oration 
Against tJie Sophists, written about 390 B.C., when Isoc- 
rates was just beginning his work at Athens. In this 
oration he declares the principles underlying his work by 
protesting against the practices adopted by other members 
of the teaching profession. Isocrates was a Sophist, and 
so calls himself ; but from his point of view there were 
many unworthy members of the craft. The first class of 
teachers criticised are those who profess to impart absolute 
knowledge which will enable others to direct their conduct 
under all circumstances. These teachers are criticised, not 
only for accepting fees, but for their fundamental claim. 
In this latter criticism he has in view the followers of Soc- 
rates and Plato, if not the great masters themselves. The 
second class of teachers criticised are the professors of 
political discourse, and that, too, in spite of the fact that 
it is to this class that Isocrates himself belongs. Here, 
however, he criticises the claim commonly put forth of 
power to make any one a good forensic speaker irrespec- 
tive of his natural ability. The third class criticised are 
those who profess to write on the art of rhetoric, yet con- 
fine the whole art to the realm of forensic or political 
I discourse. 

The second selection was written 354 b.c, at the close 



58 Source Book of the Histo7y of Education 

of his career. Isocrates was then eighty-two years old 
and was the leading representative of his profession. In 
this oration, O71 the Exchange of Estates, he gives not only 
a defence of himself and of his own career, but of his pro- 
fession in general. In the latter half of the selection is 
stated the general theory of the Sophists, or of rhetorical 
education. 

The fourth source relating to this period is the selection 
from the Republic, wherein Plato points out the evil of ill- 
directed education, and shows the distinction between the 
true philosopher and the false. This discussion gives 
Plato's conception of the group of teachers represented 
by Isocrates, just as the paragraph in Against the Sophists 
gave the Sophists' views of the philosophic or dialectic 
teachers. As the philosophers were visionaries and theo- 
rists to Isocrates, so the Sophists were simply corrupted, 
ignoble, incompletely formed philosophers to Plato. The 
value of \hQ Republic 2iS a source is discussed later (p. 130). 

The Changes in the Education of the period are mani- 
fold and not confined to any one aspect, though they are 
more pronounced in what would now be called secondary 
and higher education. Using the testimony of the Clouds 
with caution and supplementing it with corroborative evi- 
dence, circumstantial or direct, from a great variety of 
sources, the following general changes can be indicated. 
The very source of education, the home itself, was affected 
by these changes. There was a decline in the rigid disci- 
pline of the boy and of the immediate personal supervision 
of the boy by his father. His early training was now left 
more largely to the direction of nurses and pedagogues in 
whose selection less care was exercised. There was no 
need for the old-time severity. There was greater ease 



The New Greek Education 59 

and luxury in the home life. Even the change in table 
manners and in foods is marked by Aristophanes as being 
significant. The up-to-date youth recognized no rules in 
the choice of foods but his own tastes, and if what he de- 
sired was not given him willingly, he procured it himself. 
He was rude in his behaviour, he giggled, he crossed his 
legs, he interrupted the conversation ; and was indulged 
by his father with weak good humor. 

The changes in the school were more significant. A 
similar freedom or license prevailed there. In the music 
schools the simple music of old did not suffice : quavers and 
trills of the voice were indulged in ; the old melodies were 
replaced by those more complex and more sentimental, for 
the dominant moral purpose now became largely intellec- 
tual and aesthetic. The cithera as a simple accompaniment 
for the voice no longer sufficed, and the flute and other 
wind instruments were now also used, though hitherto 
their use had been considered positively immoral. In the 
literary work of the music schools a similar change 
occurred. The old national songs and the Homeric 
poems were partially replaced by the newer literature of a 
reflective and didactic character, that stimulated discussion 
and introspective analysis, but furnished little incentive to 
the active life in public service that had hitherto been the 
purpose. A yet greater change occurred in the palaestra 
in that the severity of the physical training was much re- 
laxed. The motive of the gymnastic period was no longer 
simply the production of strong, manly, healthy bodies, as 
an equipment for the enjoyment of life and the perform- 
ance of civic and military duties, but rather the acquirement 
of physical beauty and sensuous enjoyment. We cannot 
believe that this criticism indicates a condition universally 



6o Source Book of the History of Education 

true, but it does indicate a tendency. Under these condi- 
tions the moral results of the old palaestra training could 
no longer be expected. 

But the greatest change occurred in the character of the ji 
education from fifteen to twenty. Hitherto boys had 
spent the first three years of this period in the gymnasium, 
and in the political training in the agora, and the courts, 
and the last two years in the ephebic military service. 
During the time of conflict between the old ideas and the | 
new, the education of the gymnastic period became ' 
predominantly intellectual. The substitution of discussion ■ 
and rhetorical education for the old physical and civic 
training is quite clearly pictured in some of the dialogues 
of Plato in which youths participate. Whatever else may 
be said for the Platonic discussions, it must be admitted 
that they could never be brought to a close, and that they ^| 
were without any immediate practical result. It can, 
therefore, be readily understood how these educational 
innovations appeared to the conservatives but a training in 
idleness. The new movement was at first but a vague 
general tendency, but by the opening of the fourth cen- 
tury it came to have a definite organization in the philo- 
sophical and rhetorical schools, while in its earlier stage it 
found its best representation in the Sophists. 

The Sophists have been judged largely by what their 
opponents have said of them. The typical Sophists of the 
earlier period have left no writings ; at least none are 
extant. It has been popular to consider them not only as 
the typical representatives of these innovations in Greek 
society during this period, but as being responsible for the 
growth in immorality and civic indifference. The more 
just view now /accepted is that the Sophists were neither 



f 



The New Greek Education 6i 

better nor worse than their times, but that they were the 
teachers who were able to give what the new Greece of 
that time demanded. In supplying these new demands, 
they became an influential factor in the civic and moral 
disintegration and in the intellectual advance that form 
the great characteristics of the times. 

The first of the Sophists was Protagoras, who began to 
teach in Athens about 445 b.c. The term " Sophist," how- 
ever, had been used earlier than this to indicate any one 
who professed wisdom, such as the Seven Sages of the 
earlier times. After Protagoras came a number of other 
noted teachers, including Gorgias, Prodicus, and Hippias. 
These men were received at Athens with great enthusiasm, 
and had much influence on such men as Pericles, Eurip- 
ides, Socrates, Thucydides, and Isocrates. This group 
of Sophists soon raised up a multitude of lesser ones, 
pupils or imitators of less ability, putting forth more 
extravagant claims, and exerting a more detrimental influ- 
ence. The influence of these men brought the entire 
class and the general tendency of their teachings into 
disrepute with the more conservative element in Athenian 
society, and aroused the opposition of such teachers as 
Socrates and Plato, just as the minor teachers of the 
Socratic type called forth the denunciation of Isocrates. 
The masses did not discriminate between the teachings 
of Socrates and that of the others, for in essentials Socra- 
tes was a Sophist, and so considered himself. Many of 
his pupils were no more of a credit to him than were those 
of the Sophists. In fact, the Phidippides of the Clouds 
is generally supposed to be a more or less faithful picture 
""of young Alcibiades, who was a pupil of Socrates. 

The essential characteristics of the Sophists were these : 



62 Source Book of the History of Education 

they professed to have the knowledge that was necessary 
for a successful career in the public life of the times, and 
to be able to impart this by instruction ; they devoted 
themselves largely to the instruction of boys between the 
age of fifteen and the time of their admission into full citi- 
zenship. This period, formerly devoted to gymnastic 
exercise, routine military service, and training in political 
duties through association with elders in the agora and 
the courts, was now largely given over to discussion and 
theoretical instruction. To the old Greek this would only 
appear as a training in idleness. The common method 
of instruction was to teach by continuous discourse, but 
in this respect Socrates was a marked exception, for he 
taught through conversation. This use of the dialogue 
developed into the specific dialectic method, and even 
more than the Sophists' method was responsible for 
making the Greeks "a nation of talkers instead of a 
nation of doers." A further distinction, not noted in the 
Clotids, between Socrates and the other Sophists was that 
while the latter taught for fees, the former did not. Even 
this distinction was not observed by the successors of 
Socrates, unless it was Plato. In their fundamental belief, 
that virtue, or wisdom, or practical guidance in life, could 
be gained by instruction instead of by the previous 
methods of a long training in the formation of social 
habits, Socrates and the Sophists were essentially at one. 
As an aid to popularizing their ideas and perhaps as a 
means to success, the Sophists travelled from city to city, 
though Athens naturally became the centre on account 
of the great freedom of thought allowed there, and on 
account of the intellectual superiority of its citizens. 
These Sophists were received everywhere with great 



The New Greek Education 63 

enthusiasm by the younger generation. On account of 
this popularity and the rather spectacular character of 
their work, they were held responsible for the changes 
that Grecian society was undergoing at that time. They 
held no common doctrines and had no common organiza- 
tion as a school. They agreed, however, in their negative 
attitude toward old Greek speculation in its search for 
an explanation of the physical universe, and toward the 
old religion as a basis for moral action and social conduct. 
lit is because of this critical attitude that they are con- 
;demned by Aristophanes. But the criticism of Plato is 
of a diametrically opposite sort. It is because they do 
.not go far enough in rejecting the old and do not attempt 
to set up a radically new society instead of preparing for 
a successful career in the present, that he condemns them 
ias corrupt or incompletely formed philosophers. 

Not only was there no common ground in their beliefs, 
■ but in their purposes also they were wholly individualistic. 
IThe success which they professed to prepare for was success 
as an individual. It had little or no reference to the needs 
of the state, and was attained at the expense of the necessary 
military preparation demanded and most needed by the 
istate at that time. Success in defending one's own inter- 
est, in rising to political and legal distinction, in acquiring 
wealth, in achieving renown through oratory or debate, was 
their aim. Virtue or wisdom becomes success or happi- 
ness, a wholly individualistic conception. In their ideas 
md in their influence they were wholly in accord with the 
individualistic tendencies of the time, and were responsible 
for accelerating this development. Their nearest ap- 
proach to a common doctrine was this expression of 
individualism, " Man is the measure of all things." 



64 Source Book of the History of Education 

The means to success emphasized by the Sophists con- 
stituted a training in formal oratory and in popular discus- 
sion. These were the most assured means to success in 
that period. This training led to a much greater attention 
than had ever been paid before to the form and structure 
of language, both in its oral and written forms, and, in con- 
sequence, higher education became almost exclusively 
literary. 

Literary Education. — Ability to speak in public, in de- 
fence of one's own rights and in advocacy of personal 
views on public questions, was expected of all Athenian 
citizens. The Sophists deliberately proposed to create 
this ability through instruction. While they devoted most 
of their time to personal instruction, many of them wrote 
grammatical and rhetorical treatises, and from them date 
both these sciences. The efforts of the minor Sophists 
were largely directed toward clarifying the meaning of 
words and making more definite the structure of the lan- 
guage. In general their work had the same purpose as 
the teaching of rhetoric and composition at the present 
time. For this they were criticised, as were Socrates, 
Isocrates, Aristotle, Quintilian, and others whose reputa- 
tions have survived the criticism. Sophistic instruction 
meant, however, an emphasis on the form of expression 
rather than on the thought. This distinction coincided 
with a further general one that arose under the influence 
of Socrates. The rhetorical education was largely a prepa- 
ration for practical life, and was dominated chiefly by the 
hope of success or gain on the part of the individual. As 
opposed to this there was the tendency to investigate for 
the sake of truth itself, and in so doing to pursue a life 
that had little direct connection with the activities of the 



The New Greek Education 65 

public, and that offered little opportunity for achieving 
success with, or reward from, the public. The method 
best adapted to such pursuits was the dialectic or conver- 
sational method of Socrates. Hence the general tendency 
popularly represented by the Sophists, divided by the open- 
ing of the fourth century into two distinct branches. One 
was the rhetorical education, that aimed to prepare for 
practical life, that was chiefly grammatical and rhetorical in 
its subject-matter, and that depended upon formal instruc- 
tion of the lecture type for its method ; the other was the 
philosophical, that had little or no connection with prac- 
tical Ufe, that devoted itself to speculation, to a search for 
truth in the subjective or thought world, and that was 
dialectic in its method. Therein lay the first broad dis- 
tinction between the practical and the liberal education. 
Both dialectician and rhetorician had been included at 
first under the term " Sophist." But through the influence 
of such criticisms as those of Plato, the term " Sophists " 
was limited for the most part to the rhetoricians, while 
the other group assumed the term "philosophers." To 
the former group the philosophers were visionaries, lacking 
in public spirit, patriotism, and wisdom in the practical 
affairs of life. To the latter the rhetoricians, or the 
Sophists as they prefer to call them, were selfish, incapable 
of seeing or appreciating the truth, and concerned in seek- 
ing their own advancement at the expense of the public 
welfare. Each appeared to the other as the corrupters of 
youth ; to the conservative public both appeared in this 
light. The work of the two groups was largely responsi- 
ble for that versatility of mind that gave to the Greek the 
intellectual and literary leadership of all times. To the 
influence of both was due as well the culmination of the 



66 Source Book of the History of Education 

political decline and the rejection of the old religious and 
social ideals. On the other hand, it cannot be doubted 
that the germs of moral decay were inherent in classical 
society, and that they are discoverable long before the 
time of the Sophists. Education in Greece now became 
almost wholly literary and soon took the form it retained 
through the Grseco-Roman period. 



Selections from The Clouds of Aristophanes 

(Scene — the interior of a sleeping apartment ; Strepsiades, Phidip- 
piDES, and two servants are seen in their beds ; a small house is seen 
at a distance. Time — midnight.) 

Strepsiades, formerly a wealthy country gentleman, without culture, 
has married out of his station to a luxury-loving Athenian woman. 
Their son, Phidippides, has squandered much of his father's fortune in 
horse racing and other extravagances. Anxiety concerning some of 
these debts, now due, causes the father a sleepless night. The son 
dreams of his racing and in his sleep talks of his sporting friends. The 
comedy opens with the lamentations of the father and the broken 
mutterings of the son. 

******* 

(75-152.) 

Strep. I have discovered one path for my course ex- 
traordinarily excellent ; to which if I persuade this youth, 
I shall be saved. But first I wish to awake him. How 
then can I awake him in the most agreeable manner t — 
How } Phidippides, my little Phidippides } 

Phid. What, father t 

Strep. Kiss me, and give me your right hand ! 

Phid. There. What's the matter } 

Strep. Tell me, do you love me t 

Phid. Yes, by this Equestrian Neptune.^ 

Strep. Nay, do not by any means mention this Eques- 
trian \.o me, for this god is the author of my misfortunes. 
But, if you really love me from your heart, my son, obey me. 



^ Patron god of his favorite sport. 
by a statue. 



Probably represented in the bedchamber 



The Nezv Greek Education 67 

Phid. In what, then, pray, shall I obey you ? 

Strep. Reform your habits as quickly as possible ; and 
go and learn what I advise. 

Phid. Tell me now, what do you prescribe } 

Strep. And will you obey me at all } 

Phid. By Bacchus, I will obey you. 

Strep. Look this way, then ! Do you see this little door 
and little house } 

Phid. I see it. What then, pray, is this, father } 

Strep. This is a thinking-shop ^ of wise spirits. There 
dwell men who in speaking of the heavens persuade peo- 
ple that it is an oven, and that it encompasses us, and that 
we are the embers. These men teach, if one give them 
money, to conquer in speaking, right or wrong. 

Phid. Who are they ? 

Strep. I do not know the name accurately. They are 
minute-philosophers, noble and excellent. 

Phid. Bah! they are rogues; I know them. You mean 
the quacks, the pale-faced wretches, the bare-footed fellows, of 
whose number are the miserable Socrates and Chaerephon.^ 

Strep. Hold ! hold ! be silent ! Do not say anything 
! foolish. But, if you have any concern for your father's 
I patrimony, become one of them, having given up your 
1 horsemanship. 

Phid. I. would not, by Bacchus, if even you were to give 
ime the pheasants^ which Leogoras rears ! 

Strep. Go, I entreat you, dearest of men, go and be 
t taught. 

Phid. Why, what shall I learn ? 

Strep. They say, that among them are both the two 

causes, — the better cause, whichever that is, and the worse : 

;they say, that the one of these two causes, the worse, pre- 

vvails, though it speaks on the unjust side. If therefore 

you learn for me this unjust cause, I would not pay to any 



^ Or subtlety-shop. 

2 « A hanger-on of the philosopher, and appears to have been laughed at 
k even by his fellow-scholars for the mad extremes to which he carried his rever- 
■ ential attachment." — Walsh. 

8 Reference to another extravagant taste of wealthy Athenians. Leogoras 
was noted for the luxury and dissipation in which he wasted his property. 



68 Source Book of the Histojy of Education 

one, not even an obolous of these debts, which I owe at pres- 
ent on your account. 

Phid. I cannot comply ; for I should not dare to look 
upon the Knights, having lost all my colour. 

Strep. Then, by Ceres, you shall not eat any of my goods ! 
neither you, nor your draught-horse, nor your blood-horse ; 
but I will drive you out of my house to the crows. 

Phid. My uncle Megacles will not permit me to be with- 
out a horse. But I'll go in, and pay no heed to you. 

\_Exit Phidippides. 
The Strep. Though fallen, still I will not lie prostrate : but 

Sophists' having prayed to the gods, I will go myself to the thinking- 
caricatured, shop and get taught. How then, being an old man, and 
having a bad memory, and dull of comprehension, shall I 
learn the subtleties of refined disquisitions .■' — I must go. 
Why thus do I loiter and not knock at the door .'' {^Knocks 
at the door.^ Boy ! little boy ! 

Dis. \_from withi)i-'\. Go to the devil! Who is it that 
knocked at the door } 

Strep. Strepsiades, the son of Phidon, of Cicynna.^ 

Dis. You are a stupid fellow, by Jove ! who have kicked 
against the door so very carelessly, and have caused the 
mis-carriage ^ of an idea which I had conceived. 

Strep. Pardon me ; for I dwell afar in the country. 
But tell me the thing which has been made to miscarry, 

Dis. It is not lawful to mention it, except to disciples. 

Strep. Tell it, then, to me without fear ; for I here am 
come as a disciple to the thinking-shop. 

Dis. I will tell you ; but you must regard these as mys- 
teries. Socrates lately asked Chasrephon about a flea, 
how many of its own feet it jumped; for after having bit 
the eyebrow of Chaerephon, it leapt away on to the head 
of Socrates. 

Strep. How, then, did he measure this } 

Dis. Most cleverly. He melted some wax, and then 
took the flea and dipped its feet in the wax ; and then a 

1 Strepsiades gives name, paternity, and deme (native place), as was re- 
quired in judicial proceedings, thus adding to the serio-comic aspect. 

2 Referring to Socrates' characterization of himself as an intellectual mid- 
wife. 



The Nezv Greek Edttcation 69 

pair of Persian slippers ^ stuck to it when cooled. Having 
gently loosened these, he measured back the distance. 
Strep. O king Jupiter! what subtlety of thought! ^ . . . 

(180-269.) 
Open, open quickly the thinking-shop, and show to me 
Socrates as quickly as possible. For I desire to be a dis- 
ciple. Come, open the door. — [ TJie door of the TJiinking- 
shop opens, mid the pipils of Socrates are seen, all with their 
heads fixed on the ground, zvhile Socrates himself is seen 
suspended iji the air in a basket.'] O Hercules, from what 
country are these wild beasts .-• 

Dis. What do you wonder at .'' To what do they seem 
to you to be like } 

Strep. To the Spartans, who were taken at Pylos.^ But Subjects 
why in the world do these look upon the ground .-' investigated 

Dis. They are in search of the things below the earth, sophjstg 

Strep. Then they are searching for roots. Do not, ridiculed, 
then, trouble yourselves about this ; for I know where 
there are large and fine ones. Why, what are these doing, 
who are bent down so much 1 

Dis. These are groping about in darkness under Tar- 
tarus.* . . . \Turning to tJie pupils. '\ But go in, lest he 
meet with us. 

Strep. Not yet, not yet : but let them remain, that I 
may communicate to them a little matter of my own. 

Dis. It is not permitted to them to remain without in 
the open air for a very long time.^ \TJie pupils retire.'] 

Strep, ^^discovering a variety of viathcmatical instru- 
ments']. Why, what is this, in the name of heaven ? Tell 
me. 

Dis. This is Astronomy. 

Strep. But what is this } 

Dis. Geometry. 

1 Close-fitting shoes. 

2 Here follow a number of such incidents, designed to ridicule the practice 
of the Sophists and the " new " educators. 

^ Refers to their lean and haggard appearance after their long imprison- 
ment. 

* Beneath Tartarus there was nothing. 
^ They would lose their scholarly pallor. 



Socrates 
represented 
as the chief 
of the 
Sophists. 



70 Source Book ef the Jifistory of Education 

Strep. What then is the use of this ? 
Dis. To measure out the land. 
Strep. What belongs to an allotment ? 
Dis. No, but the whole earth. 

Strep. You tell me a clever notion ; for the contrivance 
is democratic and useful. 

Dis. \_pointing to a map\ See, here's a map of the whole 
earth. Do you see } this is Athens. 

Strep. What say you 1 I don't believe you ; for I do 
not see the Dicasts ^ sitting. 

Dis. Be assured that this is truly the Attic territory. 
Strep. Why, where are my fellow-tribesmen of Cicynna } 
Dis. Here they are. And Euboea here, as you see, is 
stretched out a long way by the side of it to a great 
distance. 

Strep. I know that; for it was stretched by us and 
Pericles.^ But where is Lacedaemon ? 
Dis. Where is it .? Here it is. 

Strep. How near it is to us ! Pay great attention to 
this, to remove it very far from us. 
Dis. By Jupiter, it is not possible. 

Strep. Then you will weep for it. {^Looking tip and 
discovering Socrates.] Come, who is this man who is in 
the basket 1 

Dis. Himself.^ 
Strep. Who's " Himself " ? 
Dis. Socrates. 

Strep. O Socrates ! Come, you sir, call upon him 
loudly for me. 

Dis. Nay, rather, call him yourself ; 
leisure. 

Strep. Socrates ! my little Socrates ! 
Soc. Why callest thou me, thou creature of a day .? ^ 
Strep. First tell me, I beseech you, what you are doing. 
Soc. I am walking in the air, and speculating about 
the sun. 



for I have no 
l^Exit Disciple. 



^ Popular quiries or courts. Every year six thousand citizens were jurymen. 
* Subdued by the Athenians under Pericles, twenty years previous to the 
presentation of the play. 

3 The usual designation of a teacher by a pupil or of a master by a slave. 



The New Greek Education 



71 



Strep. And so you look down upon the gods ^ from your 
basket, and not from the earth ? if, indeed, it is so. 

Soc. For I should never have rightly discovered things 
celestial, if I had not suspended the intellect, and mixed 
the thought in a subtle form with its kindred air. But 
if, being on the ground, I speculated from below on things 
above, I should never have discovered them. For the earth 
forcibly attracts to itself the meditative moisture. Water- 
cresses also suffer the very same thing.^ 

Strep. What do you say } Does meditation attract the 
moisture to the water-cresses .■' Come then, my little Soc- 
rates, descend to me, that you may teach me those things, 
for the sake of which I have come. 

[Socrates lowers Jiimself and gets out of the basketr\ 

Soc. And for what did you come ^ 

Strep. Wishing to learn to speak ; for, by reason of 
usury, and most ill-natured creditors, I am pillaged and 
plundered, and have my goods seized for debt. 

Soc. How did you get in debt without observing it .^ 

Strep. A horse-disease ^ consumed me, — terrible at eat- toward the 
ing. But teach me the other one of your two causes, that °P '^ *' 
which pays nothing ; and I will swear by the gods, I will 
pay down to you whatever reward you exact of me. 

Soc. By what gods will you swear ? for, in the first 
place, gods are not a current coin with us. 

Strep. By what do you swear } By iron money, as in 
Byzantium ^ * 

Soc. Do you wish to know clearly celestial matters, what 
they rightly are .■' 

Strep. Yes, by Jupiter, if it be possible ! 

Soc. And to hold converse with the Clouds, our 
divinities .-' 

Strep. By all means. 

Soc. \_iuith great solemnity\. Seat yourself, then, upon 
the sacred couch. 

Strep. Well, I am seated! 



Aristopha- 
nes presents 
the old 
Greek 
attitude 



^ Strepsiades understands Socrates to mean the sun-god. 
2 In ridicule of Socrates' habit of drawing his illustrations from the affairs 
of common life. 

^ A cancerous ulcer. * A Dorian colony at that time. 



Il 



72 Source Book of the History of Education 

Soc. Take, then, this chaplet. 

Strep. For what purpose a chaplet ? ^ — Ah me ! Soc- 
rates, see that you do not sacrifice me Hke Athamas ! ^ 

Soc. No ; we do all these to those who get initiated. 

Strep. Then, what shall I gain, pray } 

Soc. You shall become in oratory a tricky knave, a 
thorough rattle, a subtle speaker. — But keep quiet. 

Strep. By Jupiter, you will not deceive me ; for if I am 
besprinkled,^ I shall become fine flour. 

Soc. It becomes the old man to speak words of good 
omen, and to hearken to my prayer. — O sovereign King, 
immeasurable Air, who keepest the earth suspended, and 
thou bright ^ther, and ye august goddesses, the Clouds* 
sending thunder and lightning, arise, appear in the air, O 
mistresses, to your deep thinker. 

Strep. Not yet, not yet, till I wrap this around me, lest 
I be wet through. To think of my having come from 
home without even a cap, unlucky man ! . . . 

\The Chorus representing the clouds appears J\ 

(320-416.) 

Strep. Tell me, O Socrates, I beseech you by Jupiter, i 

who are these that have uttered this grand song } Are 1 

they some heroines } A 

Soc. By no means; but heavenly Clouds, great divini- i 

ties to idle men ; ^ who supply us with thought and argu- i 

ment, and intelligence, and humbug and circumlocution, I 

and ability to hoax, and comprehension. ! 

Strep. On this account therefore my soul, having heard | 

their voice, flutters, and already seeks to discourse sub- I 

tilely, and to quibble about smoke, and having pricked a j 

maxim with a little notion, to refute the opposite argu- I 



^ It was the custom to crown with a chaplet the head of the victim for 
sacrifice. 

^ Recently reproduced on the stage. Athamas had been crowned by sacri- 
fice to Zeus, but was saved by Heracles. 

' The head of the sacrificial victim was sprinkled with meal. 

* The transition to monotheism, with the early Greek philosophers, was 
usually by a combination of the three related deities, Air, yEther, Clouds. 

^ Referring to the Sophists, who took no part in public affairs. 



The New Greek Education 73 

ment. So that now I eagerly desire, if by any means it 
be possible, to see them palpably. 

Soc. Look, then, hither, towards Mount Parnes ; ^ for 
now I behold them descending gently. 

Strep. Pray, where .'' Show me. 

Soc. See ! there they come in very great numbers through 
the hollows and thickets ; there, obliquely .^ 

Strep. What's the matter \ for 1 can't see them. 

Soc. By the entrance. 

\Enter Chorus.] 

Strep. Now at length with difficulty I just see them. 

Soc. Now at length you assuredly see them, unless you 
have your eyes running pumpkins. 

Strep. Yes, by Jupiter ! O highly honoured Clouds, for 
now they cover all things. 

Soc. Did you not, however, know, nor yet consider, 
these to be goddesses .-' 

Strep. No, by Jupiter ! but I thought them to be mist, 
and dew, and smoke. 

Soc. For you do not know, by Jupiter, that these feed 
very many sophists, Thurian ^ soothsayers, practisers of 
medicine, lazy-longhaired-onyx-ring-wearers,* and song- 
twisters for the cyclic dances, and meteorological quacks. 
They feed idle people who do nothing, because such men 
celebrate them in verse. 

A conversation follows in which Socrates demonstrates to Strep- 
siades that clouds can take any form, and that these forms of the Chorus 
which resemble women in reality are clouds. 

Strep. O earth, what a voice ! how holy, and dignified, 
and wondrous ! 

1 In the south of Attica : frequently crowned with clouds, especially in the 
morning, though it was not visible from the stage where the comedy was pre- 
sented. 

2 The entrance of the orchestra is here indicated. 

3 Thurii was founded 444 B.C., chiefly through the influence of the sooth- 
sayer Lampon. A number of Sophists and orators also took part in the 
movement. 

4 Dilettante philosophers of Athens, who paid great attention to their dress 
and toilet. 



74 Source Book of the History of Education 

Soc. For, in fact, these alone are goddesses; and all 
the rest is nonsense. 

Strep, But come, by the Earth, is not Jupiter, the 
Olympian, a god ? 

Soc. What Jupiter } Do not trifle. There is no Jupiter. 

Strep. What do you say t Who rains, then .'' For first 
of all explain this to me. 

Soc. These, to be sure. I will teach you it by powerful 
evidence.^ Come, where have you seen him raining at any- 
time without Clouds t And yet he ought to rain in fine 
weather, and these to be absent. . . . 

(423-487.) 

Will you not, pray, now believe in no god, except what 
we believe z« — this Chaos, and the Clouds, and the 
Tongue — these three .■' 

Strep. Absolutely I would not even converse with the 
others, not even if I met them ; nor would I sacrifice to 
them, nor make libations, nor offer frankincense. 

Cho. Tell us then boldly, what we must do for you } 
for you shall not fail in getting it, if you honour and admire 
us, and seek to become clever. 

Strep. O mistresses, I request of you then this very 
small favor, that I be the best of the Greeks in speaking 
by a hundred stadia. 

Cho. Well, you shall have this from us, so that hence- 
forward from this time no one shall get more opinions 
passed in the public assemblies than you. 

Strep. Grant me not to deliver important opinions ; for 
I do not desire these, but only to pervert the right for my 
own advantage, and to evade my creditors. 

Cho. Then you shall obtain what you desire ; for you 
do not covet great things. But commit yourself without 1 1 
fear to our ministers. « ' 

Strep. I will do so in reliance upon you, for necessity 
oppresses me, on account of the blood-horses, and the 
marriage which ruined me. Now, therefore, let them use 
me as they please. I give up this my body to them to be 



1 The theory that rain was the result of natural causes, and not sent by 
Zeus, was held by some earlier philosophers. 



I 



The New Greek Education 75 

beaten, to be hungered, to be troubled with thirst, to be 
squalid, to shiver with cold, to flay into a leathern bottle, 
if I shall escape clear from my debts, and appear to 
men to be bold, glib of tongue, audacious, impudent, 
shameless, a fabricator of falsehoods, inventive of words, 
a practised knave in lawsuits, a law-tablet, a thorough 
rattle, a fox, a sharper, a slippery knave, a dissembler, 
a sHppery fellow, an imposter, a gallows-bird, a black- 
guard, a twister, a troublesome fellow, a hcker-up of 
hashes. If they call me this, when they meet me, let 
them do to me absolutely what they please. And if they 
Hke, by Ceres, let them serve up a sausage out of me to 
the deep thinkers. 

Cho. This man has a spirit not void of courage, but 
prompt. Know, that if you learn these matters from me, 
you will possess amongst mortals a glory as high as heaven. 

Strep. What shall I experience .-• 

Cho. You shall pass with me the most enviable of 
mortal lives the whole time. 

Strep. Shall I then ever see this ? 

Cho. Yea, so that many be always seated at your gates, 
wishing to communicate with you and come to a confer- 
ence with you, to consult with you as to actions and affida- The methods 
vits of many talents, as is worthy of your abihties. {To of sophistic 
Socrates.] But attempt to teach the old man by degrees carkatoed. 
whatever you purpose, and scrutinize his intellect, and 
make trial of his mind. 

Soc. Come now, tell me your own turn of mind ; in 
order that, when I know of what sort it is, I may now, 
after this, apply to you new engines. 

Strep. What .'' By the gods, do you purpose to besiege 
me.-* 

Soc. No ; I wish to briefly learn from you if you are 
possessed of a good memory. 

Strep. In two ways, by Jove. If any thing be owing 
to me, I have a very good memory ; but if I owe, unhappy 
man, I am very forgetful. 

Soc. Is the power of speaking, pray, implanted in your 
nature .-" 

Strep, Speaking is not in me, but cheating is. 



76 Source Book of the History of Education 

(743-846.) 

Soc. Keep quiet ; and if you be puzzled in any one of 
your conceptions, leave it and go ; and then set your mind 
in motion again, and lock it up. 

Strep. \in great glee\. O dearest little Socrates! 

Soc. What, old man .-' 

Strep. I have got a device for cheating them of the 
interest. 

Soc. Exhibit it. 

Strep. Now tell me this, pray ; if I were to purchase a 
Thessalian witch, and draw down the moon by night, and 
then shut it up, as if it were a mirror, in a round crest- 
case, and then carefully keep it — 

Soc. What good, pray, would this do you .-' 

Strep. What } If the moon were to rise no longer any- 
where, I should not pay the interest. 

Soc. Why so, pray } 

Strep. Because the money is lent out by the month. 

Soc. Capital ! But I will again propose to you another 
clever question. If a suit of five talents should be entered 
against you, tell me how you would obliterate it. 

Strep. How .■' how .-* I do not know ; but I must seek. 

Soc. Do not then always revolve your thoughts about 
yourself ; but slack away your mind into the air, like a 
cock-chafer tied with a thread by the foot. 

Strep. I have found a very clever method of getting rid 
of my suit, so that you yourself would acknowledge it. 

Soc. Of what description } 

Strep. Have you ever seen this stone in the chemists' 
shops, the beautiful and transparent one, from which they 
kindle fire .'' 

Soc. Do you mean the burning-glass .■' ^ 

Strep. I do. Come, what would you say, pray, if I were 
to take this, when the clerk was entering the suit,^ and were 
to stand at a distance, in the direction of the sun, thus, and 
melt out the letters of my suit .? 

Soc. Cleverly done, by the Graces ! 

1 At that time ranked with precious stones. 

2 This was done upon a waxen tablet, which was then hung up in the court 
for public inspection. 



I 



The New Greek Education 



77 



Strep. Oh ! how I am delighted, that a suit of five tal- 
ents has been cancelled ! 

Soc. Come now, quickly seize upon this. 

Strep. What .? 

Soc. How, when engaged in a lawsuit, you could over- 
turn the suit, when you were about to be cast, because you 
had no witnesses. 

Strep. Most readily and easily. 

Soc. Tell me, pray. 

Strep. Well now, I tell you. If, while one suit was still 
pending, before mine was called on, I were to run away 
and hang myself. 

Soc. You talk nonsense. 

Strep. By the gods would I ! for no one will bring an 
action against me when I am dead. , 

Soc. You talk nonsense. Begone; I can't teach you 
any longer. 

Strep. Why so .'' Yea, by the gods, O Socrates ! 

Soc. You straightway forget whatever you learn. For, 
what now was the first thing you were taught .<* Tell me. 

Strep. Come, let me see : nay, what was the first ^ 
What was the first .'' Nay, what was the thing in which we 
knead our flour .-' Ah me ! what was it .'' 

Soc. Will you not pack off to the devil, you most for- 
getful and most stupid old man .'' 

Strep. Ah me, what then, will become of me, wretched 
man .-' For I shall be utterly undone, if I do not learn to 
ply the tongue. Come, oh, ye Clouds, give me some good 
advice. 

Cho. We, old man, advise you, if you have a son grown 
up, to send him to learn in your stead. 

Strep. Well, I have a fine handsome son, but he is not 
willing to learn. What must I do .■" 

Cho. But you permit him } 

Strep. Yes, for he is robust in body, and in good health, 
and is come of the high-plumed dames of Coesyra. I will 
go for him, and if he be not willing, I will certainly drive 
him from my house. [Ti? Socrates.] Go in and wait for 
me for a short time. \_Exit. 

Cho. Do you perceive that you are soon about to obtain 
the greatest benefits through us alone of the gods ? For 



78 Source Book of the History of Education 



this man is ready to do everything that you bid him. But 
you, while the man is astounded and evidently elated, hav- 
ing perceived it, will quickly fleece him to the best of your 
power. \^Exit Socrates.] For matters of this sort are some- 
how accustomed to turn the other way. 

{Enter Strepsiades and Phidippides.] 

Strep. By Mist,i you certainly shall not stay here any] 
longer ! but go and gnaw the columns of Megacles.^ 

Phid. My good sir, what is the matter with you, O^ 
father } You are not in your senses, by Olympian Jupiter !| 

Strep. See, see! "Olympian Jupiter! " What folly! To] 
think of your believing in Jupiter, as old as you are ! 

Phid. Why, pray, did you laugh at this .'' 

Strep. Reflecting that you are a child, and have anti- 
quated notions. Yet, however, approach, that you may 
know more ; and I will tell you a thing, by learning which 
you will be a man. But see that you do not teach this to 
any one. 

Phid. Well, what is it ? 

Strep. You swore now by Jupiter. 

Phid. I did. 

Strep. Seest thou, then, how good a thing is learning } 
There is no Jupiter, O Phidippides ! 

Phid. Who then t i 

Strep. Vortex reigns, having expelled Jupiter. " 

Phid, Bah ! Why do you talk foohshly .-* 

Strep. Be assured that it is so. 

Phid. Who says this .? 

Strep. Socrates the Melian,^ and Chaerephon, who 
knows the footmarks of fleas. 

Phid. Have you arrived at such a pitch of frensy, that 
you believe madmen } 

1 The new oath indicates the effect of the sophistic teaching on religious 
beliefs. 

* The context indicates that, just before arriving on the stage, the boy has 
once more refused to obey his father and has alluded to his Uncle Megacles. 
The father's suggestion is that there is nothing to eat there save the columns, 
which are all that is left of the former splendor. 

2 A common expression for atheist, referring to Diagoras of Melos. 



The New Greek Education 79 

Strep. Speak words of good omen, and say nothing bad 
of clever men and wise ; of whom, through frugality, none 
ever shaved or anointed himself, or went to a bath to wash 
himself ; while you squander my property in bathing, as if I 
were already dead. But go as quickly as possible, and learn 
instead of me. 

Phid. What good could any one learn from them .-' 

Strep. What, really ! Whatever wisdom there is amongst 
men. And you will know yourself, how ignorant and stupid 
you are. But wait for me here a short time. \^Rnns off. 

Phid. Ah me ! what shall I do, my father being crazed } 
Shall I bring him into court and convict him of lunacy, or 
shall I give information of his madness to the coffin-makers } 
******* 

(865-1062.) 

Strep. Come hither, come hither, O Socrates ! come 
forth, for I bring to you this son of mine, having per- 
suaded him against his will. 

\Enter Socrates.] 

Soc. For he is still childish, and not used to the baskets 
here. 

Phid. You would yourself be used to them if you were 
hanged. 

Strep. A mischief take you ! do you abuse your teacher } 

Soc. "Were hanged" quoth 'a! how sillily he pro- 
nounced it, and with lips wide apart! How can '&i\^ youth 
ever learn an acquittal from a trial or a legal summons, or 
persuasive refutation .'' And yet Hyperbolus learnt this at 
the cost of a talent.^ 

Strep. Never mind ; teach him. He is clever by nature. 
Indeed, from his earliest years, when he was a little fellow 
only so big, he was wont to form houses and carve ships 
within-doors, and make little wagons of leather, and make 
frogs out of pomegranate-rinds, you can't think how clev- 
erly. But see that he learns those two causes ; the better, 
whatever it may be ; and the worse, which, by maintaining 

1 Referring to the claims of some of the Sophists that any art could be 
taught to any one, if proper payment was made. 



8o Source Book of the History of Education 

what is unjust, overturns the better. If not both, at any 
rate the unjust one by all means. 

Soc. He shall learn it himself from the two causes in 
person. \_Exit Socrates. 

Strep. I will take my departure. Remember this now, 
that he is to be able to reply to all just arguments. 



The two 
causes rep- 
resenting 
"the old" 
and " the 
new" edu- 
cation. 



\^Exit Strepsiades, and eiiter Just Cause and Unjust 

Cause.] 

Just. Come hither ! show yourself to the spectators, al- 
though being audacious. 

Unjust. Go whither you please ; for I shall far rather 
do for you, if I speak before a crowd. 
Just. You destroy me .-' Who are you } 
A cause. 
Aye, the worse. 
But I conquer you, who say that you are bette 



Unj 
Just. 
Unj. 
than I. 
Just. 
Unj. 
Just 



I 

I 



By doing what clever trick } 
By discovering new contrivances. 
For these innovations flourish by the favour of these 
silly persons. 

Unj. No ; but wise persons. 

Just. I will destroy you miserably. 

Unj. Tell me, by doing what .-' 

Just. By speaking what is just. 

Unj. But I will overturn them by contradicting them ; 
for I deny that justice even exists at all. 

Just. Do you deny that it exists } 

Unj. For come, where is it .'' 

Just. With the gods. 

Unj. Now then, if justice exists, has Jupiter not per- 
ished, who bound his own father } 

Just. Bah ! this profanity now is spreading ! Give me 



I 



Their char- 
acteristics 
and methods 
in carica- 
ture. 



basin. 

Unj. 

Just. 

Unj. 

Just. 

Unj. 



You are a dotard and absurd. 
You are debauched and shameless. 
You have spoken roses of me. 
And a dirty lickspittle. 
You crown me with lilies. 



The New Greek Education 8i 

Just. And a parricide. 

Unj. You don't know that you are sprinkling me with 
gold. 

Just. Certainly not so formerly, but with lead. 

Unj. But now this is an ornament to me. 

Just. You are very impudent. 

Unj. And you are antiquated. 

Just. And through you, no one of our youths is willing 
to go to school ; and you will be found out some time or 
other by the Athenians, what sort of doctrines you teach 
the simple-minded. 

Unj. You are shamefully squalid. 

Just. And you are prosperous. And yet formerly you 
were a beggar, saying that you were the Mysian Telephus, ^ 
and gnawing the maxims of Pandeletus ^ out of your little 
wallet. 

Unj. Oh, the wisdom — 

TusT. Oh, the madness — 

Jnj. Which you have mentioned. 

Just, And of your city, which supports you who ruin 
her youth. 

Unj. You shan't teach this youth, you old dotard. 

Just. Yes, if he is to be saved, and not merely to prac- 
tise loquacity. 

Unj. [^to Phidippides]. Come hither, and leave him to 
rave. 

Just, You shall howl, if you lay your hand on him. 

Cho. Cease from contention and railing. But show to 
us, you, what you used to teach the men of former, times, 
and you, the new system of education ; in order that, hav- 
ing heard you disputing, he may decide and go to the school 
of one or the other. 

Just. I am willing to do so. 

Unj. I also am willing. 

ip ^ Telephus, king of Mysia, wounded by Achilles during the Trojan War, 
"sought a cure, at the direction of the Delphic oracle, from the one who had 
wounded him. This he did, disguised as a beggar, and through the mediation 
of Agamemnon was successful. In the play of Euripides he is presented as 
an accomplished Sophist in the guise of a beggar. Hence the reference. 
* Pandeletus was one of the minor Sophists. 
G 



I 



82 Sotirce Book of the History of Education 



The " old 
education 
described by 
its friend. 



Cho. Come now, which of the two shall speak first ? 

Unj. I will give him the precedence ; and then, from 
these things which he adduces, I will shoot him dead with 
new words and thoughts. And at last, if he mutter, he shall 
be destroyed, being stung in his whole face and his two 
eyes by my maxims, as if by bees. 

Cho. Now the two, relying on very dexterous arguments 
and thoughts, and sententious maxims, will show which of 
them shall appear superior in argument. For now the 
whole crisis of wisdom is here laid before them ; about 
which my friends have a very great contest. But do you, 
who adorned our elders with many virtuous manners, utter 
the voice in which you rejoice, and declare your nature. 

Just. I will, therefore, describe the ancient system ofJ 
education, how it was ordered, when I flourished in the! 
advocacy of justice, and temperance was the fashion. Inj 
the first place it was incumbent that no one should hearl 
the voice of a boy uttering a syllable ; and next, that those] 
from the same quarter of the town should march in good] 
order through the streets to the school of the Harp-master, 
naked, and in a body, even if it were to snow as thick as 
meal. Then again, their master would teach them, not sit- 
ting cross-legged, to learn by rote a song, either " Pallas 
Terrible Destroyer of Cities"^ or '• Far Reaching Shriek,"^ 
raising to a higher pitch the harmony which our fathers 
transmitted to us. But if any of them were to play the buf- 
foon, or turn any quavers like these difficult turns the pres- 
ent artists make after the manner of Phrynis,^ he used to 
be thrashed, being beaten with many blows, as banishing 
the Muses. And it behoved the boys, while sitting in the 
school of the Gymnastic-master, to cover the thigh, so that 
they might exhibit nothing indecent to those outside ; then 
again, after rising from the groujid, to sweep the sand to- 
gether, and to take care not to leave an impression of the 
person for their lovers. And no boy used in those days to 



1 First line of a song composed by Lamprocles, son of Didon, an ancient 
Athenian poet. 

^ First line of a song composed by Cydides, a harper of Hermione. 

^ Phrynis of Mitylene introduced a new species of modulation in music, 
deviating from the simplicity of the ancients. 



The New Greek Education ^-i^ 

anoint himself below the navel ; so that their bodies wore 
the appearance of blooming health. Nor used he to go to 
his lover, having made up his voice in an effeminate tone, 
prostituting himself with his eyes. Nor used it to be 
allowed when one was dining to take the head of a radish, 
or to snatch from their seniors dill or parsley, or to eat 
fish, or to giggle, or to keep the legs crossed.^ 

Unj. Aye, antiquated and Dipoha-like,^ and full of grass- 
hoppers, and of Cecydes,3 and of the Buphonian festival ! * 

Just. Yet certainly these are those principles by which 
my system of education nurtured the men who fought at 
Marathon. But you teach the men of the present day, 
from their earliest years, to be wrapped up in himatia ; so 
that I am choked, when at the Panathenaia^ a fellow, 
holding his shield before his person, neglects Tritogenia,^ 
when they ought to dance. Wherefore, O youth, choose, 
with confidence, me, the better cause, and you will learn 
to hate the Agora, and to refrain from baths, and to be 
ashamed at what is disgraceful, and to be enraged if any 
one jeer you, and to rise up from seats before your seniors 
when they approach, and not to behave ill toward your 
parents, and to do nothing else that is base, because you 
are to form in your mind an image of Modesty : and not 
to dart into the house of a dancing woman, lest, while gap- 
ing after these things, being struck with an apple by a 
wanton, you should be damaged in your reputation : and 
not to contradict your father in any thing ; nor by calling 
him lapetus," to reproach him with the ills of age, by which 
you were reared in your infancy. 

1 " Among the remains of ancient art there is, perhaps, not one represent- 
ing a man, woman, god, or dsemon sitting cross-legged." — Felton. 

2 One of the most ancient festivals in Attica, in honor of Jupiter, the pro- 
tector of cities. These ceremonies had become antiquated and were ridiculed, 

^ An ancient poet. 

* Same festival as the Dipolia, mentioned above. 

® The most ancient and most important of Athenian festivals, held in honor 
of Athene, the patron deity of Athens. The lesser festival held every year, 
the greater every fifth year. 

' A surname of Athene. 

^ Son of Uranus and Gsea; regarded by the Greeks as the father of the 
human race. 



I 



84 Source Book of the History of Education 



How the 
"new" edu- 
cation ap- 
pears to an 
advocate of 
the " old." 



Ideals ot 
the " new" 
education as 
viewed by 
the " old." 



Unj. If you shall believe him in this, O youth, by Bac- 
chus, you will be like the sons of Hippocrates,^ and they 
will call you a booby. 

Just. Yet certairly shall you spend your time in the 
gymnastic schools, sleek and blooming ; not chattering in 
the market-place rude jests, Kke the youths of the present 
day ; nor dragged into court for a petty suit, greedy, petty- 
fogging, knavish ; but you shall descend to the Academy ^ 
and run races beneath the sacred olives along with some 
modest compeer, crowned with white reeds, redolent of 
yew, and careless ease, and of leaf-shedding white poplar, 
rejoicing in the season of spring, when the plane-tree 
whispers to the elm. If you do these things which I say, 
and apply your mind to these, you will ever have a stout 
chest, a clear complexion, broad shoulders, a little tongue, 
large hips, little lewdness. But if you practise what the 
youths of the present day do, you will have, in the first 
place, a pallid complexion, small shoulders, a narrow chest, 
a large tongue, little hips, great lewdness, a long psephism ; 
and this deceiver will persuade you to consider every thing 
that is base to be honourable, and what is honourable to be 
base; and, in addition to this, he will fill you with the 
lewdness of Antimachus.^ 

Cho. O thou that practisest most renowned high-tower- 
ing wisdom ! how sweetly does a modest grace attend your 
words ! Happy, therefore, were they who lived in those 
days, in the times of former men ! In reply, then, to these, 
O thou that hast a dainty-seeming muse, it behoveth thee 
to say something new ; since the man has gained renown. 
And it appears you have need of powerful arguments 
against him, if you are to conquer the man, and not incur 
laughter. 

Unj. And yet I was choking in my heart, and was long- 
ing to confound all these with contrary maxims. For I 
have been called among the deep thinkers the "worse 
cause," on this very account, that I first contrived how to 



^ A nephew of Pericles, His sons were often derided for their silliness. 
2 A public grove in the suburbs of Athens, where Plato and his followers 
taught. 

* A composer of lewd songs. 



The New Greek Education 



85 



speak against both law and justice : and this art is worth 
more than ten thousand staters, that one should choose the 
worse cause, and nevertheless be victorious. But mark 
how I will confute the system of education on which he 
relies, who says, in the first place, that he will not permit 
you to be washed with warm water. And yet, on what 
principle do you blame the warm baths ? 

Just. Because it is most vile, and makes a man 
cowardly. 

Unj. Stop ! For immediately I seize and hold you by Method of 
the waist without escape. Come, tell me, which of the the "new" 
sons of Jupiter do you deem to have been the bravest in caricatured 
soul, and to have undergone most labours .'' 

Just. I consider no man superior to Hercules. 

Unj. Where, pray, did you ever see cold Heraclean 
baths .'' ^ And yet, who was more valiant tJian Jic ? 

Just. These are the very things which make the bath 
full of youths always chattering all day long, but the 
palasstras empty. 

Unj. You next find fault with their living in the 
market-place ; but I commend it. For if it had been bad. 
Homer would never have been for representing Nestor as 
an orator; nor all the other wise men. I will return, then, 
from thence to the tongue, which this fellow says our 
youths ought not to exercise, while I maintain they should. 
And, again, he says they ought to be modest : two very great 
evils. For tell me to whom you have ever seen any good 
accrue through modesty ; and confute me by your words. . . . 
(1071-1112.) For \_to Phidippides] consider, O youth, all 
that attaches to modesty, and of how many pleasures you 
are about to be deprived — of women, of games at cottabus,^ 
of dainties, of drinking-bouts, of giggling. And yet, what 
is life worth to you, if you be deprived of these enjoy- 
ments ? Well, I will pass from thence to the necessities of 
our nature. You have gone astray, you have fallen in love, 
t you have been guilty of some adultery, and then have been 

J Herculean baths were warm baths, for Athena had called the warm 
springs of Thermopyk^ into existence in order that Heracles niiglit refresh 
himself. This passage is a type of the " sophistic " reasoning. 

2 A Greek game, popular at drinking bouts. 



86 So7irce Book of the History of Education 



Popularity 
of the new 
educators 
and of their 
methods of 
gaining 
converts. 



caught. You are undone, for you are unable to speak. 
But if you associate with me, indulge your inclination, 
dance, laugh, and think nothing disgraceful. For if you 
should happen to be detected as an adulterer, you will 
make this reply to him, "that you have done him no in- 
jury" : and then refer him to Jupiter, how even he is over- 
come by love. And yet, how could you, who are a mortal, 
have greater power than a god .-' 

Just. But what, if he should suffer the radish through 
obeying you, and be depillated with hot ashes.? What 
argument will he be able to state, to prove that he is not a 
blackguard t 

Unj. And if he be a blackguard, what harm will he suffer ? 

Just. Nay, what could he ever suffer still greater than 
this .? 

Unj. What then will you say, if you be conquered by 
me in this.'' 

Just. I will be silent : what else can I do t 

Unj. Come now, tell me ; from what class do the advo- 
cates come .'' 

Just. From the blackguards. 

Unj. I believe you. What then .■• from what class do 
the tragedians come .-* 

Just. From the blackguards. 

Unj. You say well. But from what class do the public 
orators come .'' 

Just. From the blackguards. 

Unj. Then have you perceived that you say nothing to 
the purpose .■* And look which class among the audience 
is the more numerous. 

Just. Well now, I'm looking. 

Unj. What, then, do you see ? 

Just. By the gods, the blackguards to be far more 
numerous. This fellow, at any rate, I know ; and him 
yonder ; and this fellow with the long hair. 

Unj. What, then, will you say t * 

Just. We are conquered. Ye blackguards, by the gods, 
receive my cloak, ^ for I desert to you. 



1 An allusion to Socrates' ceremony of stripping his disciples before they 
were initiated into his school. 



The New Greek Education 87 

\Exeunt the two Causes, and reenter Socrates and 
Strepsiades.] 

Soc. What then ? Whether do you wish to take and 
lead away this your son, or shall I teach him to speak ? 

Strep. Teach him, and chastise him ; and remember 
that you train him properly ; on the one side able for 
petty suits ; but train his other jaw able for the more im- 
portant causes. 

Soc. Make yourself easy ; you shall receive him back a 
clever sophist. . . . 

Phidippides receives instruction from the Sophists. Meanwhile the 
creditors with summons-witnesses call upon Strepsiades. These he 
first confounds with " Sophists' '' arguments and then drives away with a 
whip. 

(1265-1346.) 

Amynias. Do not jeer me, my friend ; but order your 
son to pay me the money which he received ; especially 
as I have been unfortunate. The newly 

Strep. What money is this .'' • acquired 

Amyn. That which he borrowed. to^a"te"st. ^^ 

Strep. Then you were really unlucky, as I think. 

Amyn. By the gods, I fell while driving my horses. 

Strep. Why, pray, do you talk nonsense, as if you had 
fallen from an ass .-" 

Amyn. Do I talk nonsense, if I wish to recover my 
money } 

Strep. You can't be in your senses yourself. 

Amyn. Why, pray .-' 

Strep. You appear to me to have had your brains 
shaken as it were. 

Amyn. And you appear to me, by Hermes, to be going 
to be summoned, if you will not pay me the money. 

Strep. Tell me now, whether do you think that 
Jupiter always rains fresh rain on each occasion, or that 
the sun draws from below the same water back again .'' ^ 

Amyn. I know not which ; nor do I care. 

Strep. How then is it just that you should recover your 
money, if you know nothing of meteorological matters } 

^ A common subject of discussion. 



88 Sotirce Book of the History of Education 

Amyn. Well, if you are in want, pay me the interest of 
my money. 

Strep. What sort of an animal is this interest } 

Amyn. Most assuredly the money is always becoming 
more and more every month and every day as the time 
slips away. 

Strep. You say well. What then } Is it possible that 
you consider the sea to be greater now than formerly } 

Pas. No, by Jupiter, but equal : for it is not fitting 
that it should be greater. 

Strep. And how then, you wretch, does this become 
no way greater, though the rivers flow into it, while you 
seek to increase your money .-' Will you not take yourself 
off from my house ? Bring me the goad. \Enter servant 
with a goad.~\ 

Amyn. I call you to witness these things. 

Strep, \beating hun\. Go! why do you delay .? Won't 
you'march, Mr. Blood-horse.? 

Amyn. Is not this an insult, pray .-* 

Strep. Will you move quickly .■' {^Pricks him behind 
with the goad.'] I'll lay on you, goading you behind, you 
out-rigger. Do you fly .'' [Amynias runs off.] I thought 
I should stir you, together with your wheels and your two- 
horse chariots. \_Exit Strepsiades. 

Cho. What a thing it is to love evil courses ! For this 
old man, having loved them, wishes to withhold the money 
which he borrowed. And he will certainly meet with 
something to-day, which will perhaps cause this Sophist to 
suddenly receive some misfortune, in return for the knav- 
eries he has begun. For I think that he will presently 
find what has been long boiling up, that his son is skilful 
to speak opinions opposed to justice, so as to overcome 
all with whomsoever he holds converse, even if he advance 
most villanous doctrines ; and perhaps, perhaps his father 
will wish that he were even speechless. 
The immoral Strep. \running out of the house pursued by his sori\. 
character of Hollo! HoUo ! O neighbors and kinsfolk and fellow- 

tnc new • 

learning tribesmen, defend me, by all means, who am being beaten ! 

furnishes the Ah me, unhappy man, for my head and jaw ! Wretch I 

plot^to the do you beat your father } 
come y. Phid. Ycs, father. 



The New Greek Education 89 

Strep. You see him owning that he beats me. 

Phid. Certainly. 

Strep, O wretch, and parricide, and house-breaker ! 

Phid. Say the same things of me again, and more. Do 
you know that I take pleasure in being much abused .■' 

Strep. You blackguard ! 

Phid, Sprinkle me with roses in abundance. 

Strep. Do you beat your father .-* 

Phid. And will prove, too, by Jupiter, that I beat you 
with justice. 

Strep. O thou most rascally ! Why, how can it be 
just to beat a father.'' 

Phid. I will demonstrate it, and will overcome you in 
argument. 

Strep. Will you overcome me in this } 

Phid. Yea, by much and easily. But choose which of 
the two Causes you wish to speak. ^ 

Strep, Of what two Causes .-' 

Phid. The better, or the worse ? 

Strep. Marry, I did get you taught to speak against 
justice, by Jupiter, my friend, if you are going to persuade 
me of this, that it is just and honourable for a father to be 
beat by his sons ! 

Phid. I think I shall certainly persuade you : so that, 
when you have heard, not even you yourself will say any 
thing against it. 

Strep, Well, now, I am willing to hear what you have 
to say. 

******* 

(1408-1450.) 

Phid. I will pass over to that part of my discourse where 
you interrupted me ; and first I will ask you this : Did you 
beat me when I was a boy .-* 

Strep. I did, through good will and concern for you. 

Phid. Pray tell me, is it not just that I also should be The new 
well incHned towards you in the same way, and beat you, learning is 
since this is to be well inclined — to give a beating.^ For to^oW Greek 
why ought your body to be exempt from blows, and mine morality, 

^ It was characteristic of the Sophists to be indifferent as to which side of a 
question they should support. 



90 Source Book of the History of Education 

not ? And yet I too was born free. The boys weep, and 
do you not think it right that a father should weep ? You 
will say that it is ordained by law that this should be the 
lot of boys. But I would reply, that old men are boys 
twice over, and that it is the more reasonable that the old 
should weep than the young, inasmuch as it is less just 
that they should err. I 

Strep. It is no where ordained by law that a father | 
should suffer this. ] 

Phid. Was it not then a man like you and me, who first ! 
proposed this law, and by speaking persuaded the ancients ? I 
Why then is it less lawful for me also in turn to propose 
henceforth a new law for the sons, that they should beat 
their fathers in turn ? But as many blows as we received 
before the law was made, we remit ; and we concede to 
them our having been well thrashed without return. 
Observe the cocks and these other animals, how they 
punish their fathers ; and yet, in what do they differ from 
us, except that they do not write decrees .-• 

Strep. Why then, since you imitate the cocks in all 
things, do you not sleep on a perch .'' 

Phid. It is not the same thing, my friend ; nor would it 
appear so to Socrates. 

Strep. Therefore do not beat me ; otherwise you wil! 
one day blame yourself. 

Phid. Why, how } 

Strep. Since I am justly entitled to chastise you ; and 
you to chastise your son, if you should have one. 

Phid. But if I should not have one, I shall have wept 
for nothing, and you will die laughing at me. 

Strep. To me indeed, O comrades, he seems to speak 
justly; and I think we ought to concede to them what is 
fitting. For it is proper that we should weep, if we do not 
act justly. 

Phid. Consider still another maxim. 

Strep. No ; for I shall perish if I do. 

Phid. And yet perhaps you will not be vexed at suffer- 
ing what you now suffer. 

Strep. How, pray .'' for inform me what good you will 
do me by this .■' 

Phid. I will beat my mother, just as I have you. 



The New Greek Education 



91 



Strep. What do you say ? what do you say ? This other 
again, is a greater wickedness. 

Phid. But what if, having the worst Cause, I shall con- 
quer you in arguing, proving that it is right to beat one's 
mother } 

Strep. Most assuredly, if you do this, nothing will hinder and to 
you from casting yourself and your Worse Cause into the "^ Greek 
pit ^ along with Socrates. — These evils have I suffered "^^ '^'°"' 
through you, O Clouds, having intrusted all my affairs 
to you. . . . 



Against the Sophists : An Oration by Isocrates 

If all those who undertake instruction, would speak the 
truth, nor make greater promises than they can perform, 
they would not be accused by the illiterate. Now, those 
who inconsiderately have dared to boast, have been the 
cause that those men seem to have reasoned better, who 
indulge their indolence, than such as study philosophy : 
for, first, who would not detest and despise those who pass 
their time in sophistic chicanery } who pretend indeed, that 
they seek truth, but, from the beginning of their promises, 
labour to speak falsities ; for I think it manifest to all, that 
the faculty of foreknowing future things is above our nature : 
nay, we are so far from such prudence, that Homer, who, 
for his wisdom, has acquired the highest fame, has some- 
times introduced gods in his poem, consulting about futu- 
rity ; not that he knew the nature of their minds, but that 
he would show to us, that this was one of those things which 
are impossible for man. These men are arrived at that 
pitch of insolence, that they endeavor to persuade the 
younger, that, if they will be their disciples, they shall 
know what is best to be done, and thereby be made happy; 
and, after they have erected themselves into teachers of 
such sublime things, they are not ashamed to ask of them 
four or five minae ; though, did they sell any other pos- 
session for much less than its value, they would not hesi- 
tate to grant themselves mad. But now exposing to sale 

1 At the base of the Hill of the Nymphs, into which criminals or their bodies 
were cast. 



l^' 



Many igno- 
rant or un- 
scrupulous 
teachers 
have 

brought the 
entire pro- 
fession of 
" Sophists " 
into disre- 
pute. 



92 Source Book of the History of Education 



Material 
gain placed 
above moral 
influence. 



Their false 
claims bring 
all instruc- 
tion into 
disrepute. 



They profess 
to teach 
civic wfisdom 
and to give 
oratorical 
power. 



all virtue and happiness (if we will believe them), they dare 
argue, that, as being wise men, they ought to be the pre- 
ceptors of others ; yet they say indeed, that they are not 
indigent of money, while, to diminish its idea, they call it 
pitiful gold and silver ; though they require a trifling gain, 
and only promise to make those next to immortal, who will 
commence their disciples. But what is the absurdest of 
all, is, that they are diffident of those very persons from 
whom they are to receive their reward, though they them- 
selves are to teach them justice; for they make an agree- 
ment, that the money shall be deposited with those whom 
they never taught. Doing right in regard of their own 
security, but acting contrary to their own promises : for it 
becomes those who teach any other thing, by a cautious 
bargain to avoid controversy (for nothing impedes, but that 
those who are ingenious in other respects, may not be hon- 
est in regard of contracts); yet how can it be but absurd, 
that they, who pretend to teach virtue and temperance as 
an art, should not chiefly trust to their own disciples ; for 
they who are just towards other men, will certainly not 
trespass against those, by whom they were made both good 
and equitable. 

When therefore some of the unlearned, considering all 
these things, see those who profess teaching wisdom and 
happiness, indigent themselves of many things, requiring 
a small sum of their scholars, and observing contradictions 
in silly sentences, though they see them not in actions; 
professing likewise, that they know futurity, yet not capable 
of speaking or dehberating properly of things present; and 
that those are more consistent with themselves, and do more 
things right who follow common opinions, than those who 
say they are possessed of wisdom : when they see this, 
I say, they think such disputations mere trifles, a loss of 
time in idle things, and not a real improvement of the 
human mind. 

Nor is it just to blame these men only, but those like- 
wise who profess to teach civil science to the citizens; 
for they also disregard truth ; and think it artful, if they 
draw as many as possible, by the smallness of the recom- 
pence, and the greatness of their promises, and so receive 
something of them : and they are so stupid, and imagine 



The New Greek Education 93 

others so, that though they write orations more inaccurate 
than some who are unlearned speak extempore, yet they 
promise they will make their disciples such orators, that 
they shall omit nothing in the nature of things ; nay, that 
they will teach them eloquence, like grammar ; not con- 
sidering the nature of each, but thinking, that on account 
of the excellence of their promises, they will be admired, 
and the study of eloquence seem of higher value ; not 
knowing, that arts render not those famous who insolently 
boast of them, but those who can find out and express 
whatever is in them. But I would purchase willingly, at 
a great price, that philosophy could effect this ; perhaps, 
then, I should not be left the farthest behind, nor have 
the least share of its benefits : but as the nature of the 
thing is not so, I would have these triflers to be silent ; 
for I see reflections not only cast upon the faculty, but 
that all are accused who are conversant in the same 
studies. I wonder when I see those thought worthy of Rhetoric 
having scholars, who perceive not they produce a fixed and gram- 
art, and bound down by rules, for example of that which "i^'^caiibe 

1 1 1 . n • T 1 • taught; not 

depends chieny on genms. Is there any one, exceptmg so,elo- 
them, who is ignorant, that, as for letters and grammar, quence. 
they are unchangeable, and the same, and that we always 
use the same words about those things ; but that the 
nature of eloquence is quite the contrary : for what has 
been said by another is not equally useful to him who 
speaks after ; but he is the most excellent in this art, who 
speaks worthily indeed of his subject, but also those things 
which never were invented by others. The greatest dif- 
ference betwixt these arts is this : it is impossible orations 
should be good, unless there be in them an observation of 
time and decorum ; but there is no need of this in letters. 
Wherefore those who use such foreign examples, ought 
rather to pay than receive money, because, wanting much 
instruction themselves, they pretend to teach others. But 
if I ought not only to accuse others, but explain my own 
sentiments, all wise men, I believe, will agree with me. Eloquence 
that many, studious of philosophy, have led a private life ; depends 
but that some others, though they never were the scholars ability^^im-^ 
of sophists, were skilled both in eloquence and governing proved by 
the state ; for the faculty of eloquence, and all other in- instruction. 



94 Source Book of the History of Education 

genuity, is innate in men, and is the portion of such as 
are exercised by use and experience ; though instruction 
renders such more knowing in art, and better quahfied for 
life : for learning has taught them to draw, as it were, 
from a store, what else perhaps they would but casually 
light on. But as for those who are of a weaker genius, it 
will never render them adroit pleaders, or good orators; 
but it will make them excel themselves, and become more 
prudent in many things. Since I am advanced so far, I 
will speak more clearly of this topic ; I say then, it is no 
difficult matter to learn those forms or orders of things, 
by which we know how to compose orations, if any one 
puts himself under the care not of such as easily vaunt 
themselves, but such as have the real science ; but, in 
regard of what relates to particular things, which we must 
first see, and mix together, and dispose in order, and, be- 
sides, not lose opportunities, but vary the whole discourse 
with arguments, and conclude it in a harmonious and 
musical manner : these things, I say, require great care, 
and are the province of a manly and wise mind ; and the 
scholar must, besides his having necessary ingenuity, per- 
fectly instruct himself in the different kinds of orations, 
and be exercised in the practice : but it becomes the mas- 
ter to explain all these as accurately as possible, so as to 
omit nothing which may be taught. As for the rest, show 
himself such an example, that they who can imitate and 
express it, may be able to speak in a more beautiful and 
elegant manner than others. In whatever regard any 
thing of what I have mentioned is wanting, it must follow, 
that his disciples will be less perfect. 

And for those sophists who have lately sprung up, and 
fallen into this arrogance, though numerous now, they 
will be forced at last to conform to my rules. Now, there 
remain those who were born before us, and have dared to 
write of arts, not to be dismissed without just reprehen- 
sion ; who have professed, that they would teach how we 
should plead under an accusation, choosing out the most 
odious expression of all, which their enviers ought to have 
done, and not they who preside over this institution ; since 
this, as far as it can be taught, can conduce no more to the 
composing of law-orations than all others : yet the sophists 



The New Greek Education 



95 



are worse than those who grovel amidst contentions, be- 
cause, while they recite such miserable orations, as did any- 
one imitate, he must become unfit for all things, yet afifirm, 
that virtue and temperance are taught in them ; but the 
latter, exhorting to popular orations, and neglecting the 
other advantages they were possessed of, have suffered 
themselves to be esteemed teachers of bustling in business, 
and of gratifying avarice ; yet they will sooner assist those 
who will obey the precepts of this learning, in the habit of 
equity than eloquence. But let no one think, that I imag- 
ine justice can be taught; for I do not think there is any 
such art which can teach those who are not disposed by 
nature, either temperance or justice ; though I think the 
study of popular eloquence helps both to acquire and prac- 
tice it. I3ut that I may not seem to accuse other men's 
promises, and magnify things more than I ought, I judge 
I shall easily manifest to any one by the same arguments 
with which I have persuaded myself that these things are 
so. 



On the Exchange of Estates ; an Oration by Isocrates 

' If this speech were an ordinary specimen of the Fo- 
rensic ^ or Epideictic ^ class, it would need no preface. As 
it is of a new kind, its origin must be explained. I had 
long known that some of the sophists slandered my pur- 
suits, and represented me as a writer of speeches for the 
law-courts. They might as well have called Phidias ^ a 
doll-maker, Zeuxis * or Parrhasios ^ a sign-painter. Be- 
lieving that I had made it clear that my subjects are not 
private disputes but the greatest and highest questions, 

^ While the speech is in the general form of addresses in the law courts, 
yet its style is not. It is a defence before the public. 

2 Demonstrative as opposed to deliberative oratory; oratory of purely rhetor- 
ical character. This oration of Isocrates falls between the two. 

^ The greatest of Grecian sculptors. Lived during the fifth century B.C. 

* A celebrated painter of the Ionic school. Lived during the fifth cen- 
tury B.C. 

* After Zeuxis, the chief representative of the Ionic school of painting. A 
contemporary of Zeuxis. These artists were in the celebrated contest in which 
Zeuxis deceived the birds, while Parrhasius deceived even Zeuxis himself. 



The occa- 
sion of this 
speech, in 
which Isoc- 
rates de- 
fends' 

himself and 
his 
profession. 



96 Source Book of the History of Education 1 

I supposed such idle calumnies to be powerless. Now, 
however, at the age of 82, I have discovered that they 
influence the general public. A person who had been 
called upon to serve as trierarch ^ challenged me to 
exchange properties with him, or else to take the duty.^ 1 
A lawsuit followed.^ The plaintiff dwelt upon the evil I 
tendency of my writings, upon my wealth and the number 
of my pupils; and the court imposed the trierarchy upon 
me. The expense I bore with equanimity ; but I wish to 
correct the prejudices which led to such a verdict. This 
discourse is meant as an image of my mind and life. It 
is cast into the form of a defence in an imaginary trial. «j 
It contains some things that might be said in a law-court ; ^1 
some, unsuited to such a place, but illustrative of my 
philosophy ; some, which may profit young men anxious 
to learn ; some, taken from my former writings and intro- 

1 Trierarch was one called upon to equip a ship of war. It was the most 
expensive of the liturgies, or services performed for the public, required of 
Athenian citizens. This service was required of the wealthiest citizens only, 
and was imposed on them in regular rotation, the nominations being made 
each year by the strategi. The state furnished the vessel, — that is, the hull 
and mast, — the trierarch all the necessary equipment and complement of 
oarsmen, keeping it in readiness for a year. 

2 When such a service was imposed upon a citizen, he might take advan- 
tage of a law, called the antidosis or " an exchange," popularly ascribed to 
Solon, though probably originating in more democratic times. The antidosis 
provided that a person nominated to perform a liturgy might call upon any 
qualified person not so charged to take the office in his stead, or to submit to 
a complete exchange of property. In case the exchange was made, the first 
party bore the expense of the liturgia. Courts were opened for these pro- 
ceedings at stated times of the year. In the case of the trierarchy the magis- 
trates were the strategi, the ten popular magistrates elected from the several 
tribes and having charge of all military affairs. 

3 The trierarchy had recently been imposed upon Isocrates after such a 
trial, in which he had been challenged to an exchange of estates. He dis- 
charged the duties. This apology resulted, not as the actual defence made in 
court, but as a discourse, issued later, to combat the general prejudice against 
his profession. In the actual trial, Isocrates had not been able to appear on 
account of illness, his place being taken and his defence made by his adopted 
son. Isocrates and his son had borne the trierarchy as well as other liturgies. 
They were enrolled among the twelve hundred richest citizens. 



The New Greek Education 



97 



duced here in harmony with a special purpose. The re- 
sulting whole must not be judged as representing any one 
class of speech, but as made up of several distinct elements 
brought in with several distinct aims. It ought to be 
read, not continuously, but part by part. 

' The worst knave is he who brings against another 
charges to which he himself is liable. Lysimachos,^ de- 
livering a composed speech, has dwelt most of all upon 
the insidious skill of my compositions. Do not be swayed 
by calumny ; remember the oath taken yearly by judges 
that they will hear impartially accuser and accused. Ere 
now Athens has regretted a hasty verdict ; and it would 
be shameful that Athenians, reputed in all else the most 
merciful of the Greeks, should be rashly cruel in their own 
law-courts. No one of you, the judges, can tell that he 
will not be the next victim of Lysimachos. A good life 
is no protection from such men ; they show their power 
upon the innocent in order to be bribed by the guilty. 
Never till this day have I been brought before judge or 
arbitrator ; now, if you will hear me, I hope to prove my 
real character. — Read the indictment. . . . 

* Here, in the indictment, he charges me with corrupt- 
ing the youth ^ by teaching them to be tricky litigants. 
In his speech, on the other hand, he represents me as 
the most wonderful of men ; — as one among whose pupils 
have been public speakers, generals, kings, despots. He 
thinks that I shall be envied on the latter account, and de- 
tested on the former. Dismiss prejudice, and decide upon 
the merits of the case. That my literary skill has not 
been used for bad purposes, appears from the fact that 
I have no enemies. If I had, they would have profited 
by this trial to appear against me. This skill itself, if 
it has been well used, is a claim to esteem. The difference 
between me and a writer of law-speeches will appear if 
you compare our modes of life. Men frequent the places 

^ A fictitious person, who stands for the challenger in the real trial and for 
demagogues in general; for the decision against Isocrates was the result of 
the appeals to popular prejudices made by the challenger, 

"^ The common charge against the Sophists and the new educators in gen- 
eral. 



" Inform- 
ers" respon- 
sible for this 
charge and 
for the dis- 
repute of the 
Sophists. 



Charges 

made 

against 

Isocrates; 

incidentally 

against all 

Sophists. 



His defence:. 



98 Source Book of the History of Education 



1 



from which they draw their subsistence. Those who 
subsist by your htigations almost live in the law-courts. 
No one has ever seen me in a council-chamber, at the 
archon's office, before judges, before arbitrators. Petti- 
foggers thrive at home; my prosperity has always been 
found abroad. Is it probable that Nikokles^ of Cyprus, 
sovereign judge among his people, should have rewarded 
me for aiding him to become a pleader .? No mere writer 
of law-speeches has ever had pupils ; I have had many. 
But it is not enough to show that my hne of work has 
not been this. I will show you what it has been. 

' First, it must be remembered that there are as many 
branches of prose as of poetry. Some prose-writers have 
spent their lives in tracing the genealogies of the Heroes. 
Others have been critics of the poets. Others have com- 
piled histories of wars. Others have woven discussions 
into dialogues. My work has lain in yet another field, — 
in the composition of discourses bearing upon the politics 
of all Hellas, and fitted for recitation at Panhellenic gath- 
erings. Such discourses evidently stand nearer to poetry 
than to forensic rhetoric. Their language is more imagina- 
tive and more ornate ; there is greater amplitude, more 
scope for originality, in the thoughts which they strive to 
express. They are as popular as poems ; and the art of 
writing them is much studied. Unlike forensic speeches, 
they deal with matters of universal interest ; they have a 
lasting value, independent of any special occasion. Be- 
sides, he who is a master of these could succeed also in 
a law-court ; but not vice versa. At these I have worked ; 
and have got by them a reputation better than law-courts 
could give. 

' I am ready to impose the severest terms upon myself. 
Punish me, not merely if my writings are proved harmful 
but if they are not shown to be matchless. It is not neces- 
sary here to argue on probabilities. My writings are them- 
selves the facts in question. Samples of them shall be 
shown to you, and you shall judge for yourselves. The 

^ King of Salamis, in Cyprus. When he succeeded his father in 374 B.C. 
he celebrated the latter's obsequies with great splendor. Isocrates was en- 
gaged to deliver the eulogy. - ^ 






The New Greek Education 99 

discourse from which the first sample shall be taken was 
written when Sparta was at the head of Greece and Athens 
in a low estate. It seeks to rouse Hellas against Persia ; 
and disputes the claim of Sparta to sole leadership. ^ . . . 

' Is the writer of this a " corrupter of young men," or 
their inciter to noble daring .'' Does he deserve punish- 
ment ; or is he to be thanked for having so praised Athens 
and your ancestors that former writers on the same theme 
feel remorse, and intending ones, despair .'' 

' Some who, themselves unable to create, can only Evidence 
criticise, will say that this is * graceful ' (they could not from various 
bring themselves to say 'good'); but that praise of the ^^^^^ "' 
past is less valuable than censure of present mistakes. 
You shall hear, then, part of another speech in which I 
assume this office of censor. Its immediate subject is the 
peace with Chios, Rhodes and Byzantium ; it goes on to 
show the drawbacks to a maritime supremacy ; and 
ends by addressing to Athens exhortation, censure and 
advice.^ . . . 

' You have now heard parts of two discourses ; a short 
passage from a third shall be read, in order that you may 
see how the same tendency goes through all that I have 
written. Here, addressing Nikokles of Cyprus, I did not 
aim at regular composition, but merely strung together 
a number of detached precepts upon government. It is 
not for their literary merit, but simply as showing the spirit 
of my dealing with princes as well as with private men, 
that they are quoted here. One who so boldly advised a 
king to care for his people, would surely be no less frank 
in the popular cause under a democracy. — I begin by blam- ^^-^_^ 

ing the usual neglect of special preparation by a monarch ; 
and then urge Nikokles to regard his office as a task calling 
for serious labor.^ . . . 

' This shall be the last of these long extracts ; but I re- 
serve the right of referring in detail to my own writings 
whenever it can be useful. I offered just now to bear any 

i 

I" 1 Here is read an extract from the Panegyrtkos, sees. 51-99. 

* Here is read an extract from the speech On the Peace, sees. 25-56; sees. 

tl32 to end. 
" H'ere is read an extract from the discourse To Nikokles, sees. 14-39. 
LofC. 



loo Source Book of the History of Education 



Character of 
his teaching 
proven by 
the char- 
acter of his 
pupils, 



and of his 
friends, 



and by his 
influence on 
puhHc 
officers. 



penalty, not merely if it could be shown that my writings 
were harmful, but unless it could be shown that they were 
incomparable. That boast has been justified. What attempt 
could be hoher or more righteous than the attempt to praise 
our ancestors worthily of their exploits ; what theme nobler 
than his who urges Hellenes to unite against barbarians.!* 
Good laws are allowed to be the greatest blessings to hu- 
man life. Yet these benefit only the individual city ; my 
discourses profit all Hellas. It is easier to be a legislator 
than to be a competent adviser of Athens and Hellas. 
The legislator, in an advanced stage of civilisation, is often 
little more than a compiler; the thoughts of an effective 
speaker must be his own. Teachers of moral philosophy 
differ from each other and from the world as to what is 
virtue ; the virtue which I inculcate is recognised by all. 
Those theorists seek only to draw disciples to themselves ; 
my object is to impress a pubhc duty upon Athens. The 
alleged vices of my teaching are disproved by the affection 
of my pupils ; who, at the end of three or four years, have 
left me with regret. Lysimachos has accused me, without 
a shadow of proof, of corrupting them ; but I will refute 
him formally. 

' You know my writings ; you shall now hear who have 
been my associates from childhood, and the evidence of 
my contemporaries shall prove the statement. Among my 
friends in youth were Eunomos, Lysitheides, Kallippos ; 
afterwards Onetor, Antikles, Philonides, Philomelos, Char- 
mantides.i All these were crowned with golden crowns 
for their services to Athens. Whether you suppose me to 
have been their adviser and teacher, or merely their com- 
panion, my character is vindicated. If it is not, what would 
it have been if among my intimates had been such a man 
as Lysimachos .-• Some will perhaps say that I am citing 
good men whom I barely knew, but keeping out of sight 
the rascals who were my pupils. I am ready to waive all 
credit for honourable friendships, and to bear the full dis- 
credit of any which can be shown to have been disreputable. 

' The general charge against me in the indictment — that 

^ Some of these are now unknown; some are identified with prominent or 
wealthy citizens of Athens. 



The Neiv Greek Education loi 

of corrupting my associates — has been sufficiently answered. 
But special stress has been laid upon my friendship with 
Timotheos ; ^ and, since the interests which he long con- 
trolled were so great, especial pains have been taken to 
slander him. I, therefore, who am supposed to have been 
his adviser and teacher, cannot be silent. If he is shown 
to have been a bad man, let me share the blame. If he 
is proved to have been incomparable as a general and 
as a citizen, let the honour be his alone. Now, in the first 
place, no general ever took so many and such important 
cities. Corcyra, important in regard to the Peloponnesos, 
— Samos, for Ionia, — Sestos and Krithote, for the Helles- 
pont, — Potidaea, for Thrace, — were taken by him with 
slender resources. He forced Lacedaemon into the pres- 
ent peace,^ the most advantageous ever concluded by 
Athens. In a word, he took twenty-four towns at a smaller 
outlay than the single siege of Melos cost our fathers. 
These exploits were achieved at a time when we were weak 
and our enemies strong. By vv^hat qualities did Timotheos 
achieve them ? He was not of the ordinary type of your 
generals, — neither of a robust frame, nor trained in the 
camps of mercenaries. But he knew against whom, and 
with whose aid, to make war ; how to form, and to use, a 
force suitable for each attempt ; how to bear privations, 
and to remedy them ; how to win for Athens the trust and 
the love of Greece. A general who, like Lysander, has 
one brilliant success is less great than one who for years 
deals wisely with ever-varying difficulties. Yet Timotheos 
was brought to trial for treason; and, although Iphikrates'^ 
took the responsibility for what had been done, Menestheus^ 
for what had been spent, they were acquitted, while Timo- 
theos was fined in an unheard-of sum. Ignorance, envy, 

1 A famous Athenian general, first appointed to command in 378 B.C. In 
356 he was associated in command of the Athenian fleet. In consequence of 
his failure to relieve Samos, he was fined one hundred talents — more than 
^100,000. He was unable to pay the fine and died shortly after. Nine-tenths 
of the fine was subsequently remitted; the remaining tenth his son Colon 
expended in repair of the walls. 

^ Peace of Kallias, 371 B.C. 

8 Associates of Timotheos in the command of the fleet. 



I02 Source Book of the History of Education 



Difficulty of 

defence 

before 

Athenian 

democracy. 

A corrupt 

society. 



Rewards of 

Sophists 

exaggerated. 



excitement, go far to explain this result ; but it must be 
owned that the character of Timotheos contributed to it. 
He was no anti-democrat, no misanthrope, not arrogant; 
but his unbending loftiness of mind made him liable to seem 
all this. Against my advice, he refused to conciHate the 
speakers who sway the ekklesia ^ and those who direct the 
opinion of private circles. These men made it their busi- 
ness to frame falsehoods about him — falsehoods which, 
had I space, I could bring you to see and hate. But I 
must go back to my own case. 

' I hardly know how to arrange the topics on which it re- 
mains for me to speak; perhaps it will be best to take each 
as it occurs. But here I am checked by the warning of a 
friend, — which you shall hear. " If you describe your 
blameless life," he said, "you will only provoke jealousy. 
That you should have so written as to deserve public grati- 
tude, and that your intimates should have been men whom 
Athens delighted to honor ; that, till now, you should have 
been a stranger to lawsuits ; that, while seeking no public 
emoluments, you should have enrolled yourself and your 
son among the twelve hundred who pay the war-tax and 
bear the public services ; that you and he should thrice have 
discharged the trierarchy, and performed the other ser- 
vices at a greater cost than the laws enjoin ; that you 
should receive presents from abroad, and avoid all display 
at home — these things will but irritate your judges." 
When my friend said this, it seemed to me that it would 
be strange if any reasonable men could object to my bear- 
ing the city's burdens and yet dechning its rewards. I de- 
cline its rewards not from arrogance, but from preference 
for a quiet life. It is not because I am very rich that I 
take so large a share of its burdens. No sophist has ever 
made a great fortune. Gorgias ^ of Leontini,^ who passed 



1 The public assembly, which had the final decision in public affairs. At 
Athens every citizen in full possession of his civic rights was entitled to take 
part in it after his twentieth year. 

2 A Sophist and rhetorician who came to Athens late in life. He practically 
introduced rhetoric into Athens. He was a contemporary of Socrates. His 
philosophy, as opposed to the Platonic idealism, was nihilistic. 

^ In Sicily. 



The New Greek Education 



103 



much time in Thessaly when it was the richest part of 
Greece — whose Hfe was spent in seeking wealth from 
city to city, and who had no family burdens — left only 
1000 staters. The income of a sophist must not be 
judged by that of a popular actor. Compare me, if you 
will, with the most successful men in my own profession ; 
and you will find that I have been at once a thrifty house- 
holder and a liberal citizen. Things have changed at 
Athens since I was a boy. Then wealth was not only dig- 
nified but safe, and every one affected to be richer than he 
was. Now it is more dangerous to be suspected of wealth 
than of the worst crime. When my fortune was wrecked 
in the Peloponnesian war, and I resolved to repair it by 
teaching, I hoped that success in my new profession would 
bring credit and respect. It has brought, however, only 
envy and slander. Lysimachos, who lives by the in- 
former's trade, is accuser — I, who have not preyed on 
you, but have prospered through the gratitude of men whom 
I had saved, stand in danger. Our ancestors made Pindar^ 
their public friend,^ and voted him 10,000 drachmas^ be- 
cause he bore witness that Athens is the stay of Hellas. 
It would be hard if I, who have given her praise ampler 
and nobler than that, should not be allowed even to end 
my days in peace. 

' The indictment has now been answered. But from the 
first I have foreseen that I should have to combat, not 
merely the charges against myself, but the prejudice 
against these studies generally. Reflection, however, as- 
sured me that among you I should find fairness, and that 
the cause of Philosophy could be satisfactorily defended. 
In the fact of the prejudice against it there is nothing 
strange. Athens is large and populous. Public opinion 



Democratic 
jealousy of 
wealth and 
influence. 



Not Isoc- 
rates alone, 



but educa- 
tion is 
attacked. 



^ The greatest of Greek lyric poets, born in Thebes, 522 B.C. His support 
of Athens was due to her part in the Persian Wars. For this praise the The- 
bans fined him and the Athenians reimbursed him twofold, adding statues 
and other honors. 

2 The proxenos might be either an honorary appointment, or it might be 
similar to modern consular appointments made from citizens of the country in 
which they reside, by a foreign country which they are to represent. 

^ About ^1800 in our money. 



I04 Source Book of the History of Education 



Defence of 

the higher 

education. 

Analogy 

with 

gymnastic. 



Proof that 
Isocrates 
had 

discounte- 
nanced false 
claims, 
proven by 
his essay, 
Against the 
Sophists. 



here is irregular and vehement as a winter-torrent. It 
sweeps down all men and all things that it chances to 
seize. This has befallen my studies. But you must de- 
cide calmly. Remember that it is not my case alone which 
is at issue, but the education of our youth — upon which 
the future of Athens must depend. If Philosophy is a bad 
thing, it should be absolutely banished; if it is a good thing, 
it should be encouraged, and its detractors should be si- 
lenced. I wish that this accusation had been brought 
against me (if it was to be brought) at a time when I could 
have pleaded the cause of philosophy with the vigour of a 
younger man. However, I will try to set before you, as 
well as I can, its nature — its power — its relation to other 
sciences — the benefits which it is able to confer — and the 
degree in which I profess to impart them. If the style of 
the defence is singular, pardon it to the difficulty of the 
subject. 

' What Gymnastic is for the body, Philosophy is for the 
mind. In the one as in the other, the pupil learns first 
the technical rudiments, and then how to combine them. 
The physical and the mental training will alike improve 
natural powers. But the master of the palaestra cannot 
make a great athlete, nor the teacher of Philosophy a great 
speaker. To make the latter, three things are needed — 
capacity, training, and practice. Capacity — which includes 
intellect, voice, and nerve — is the chief requisite. Practice, 
however, can by itself make a good speaker. Training is 
by far the least important of the three. It may be com- 
plete, and yet may be rendered useless by the absence of 
a single quality — nerve. 

' Do not suppose that my claims are modest only when I 
address you, but larger when I speak to my pupils. In an 
essay published when I first began to teach, the excessive 
pretensions of some teachers are expressly blamed. — 
This passage will explain my view.^ . . . You see, then, 
that at the outset as at the close of my career, in safety as 
in danger, I have held this language. 

' This, I well know, will not satisfy those against whose 
prejudices I am contending. Much more must be said 
before they can be converted or refuted. Their prejudice 

1 Here is read an extract from the essay, Against the Sophists. 



The New Greek Education 



105 



utters itself in one of two assertions : — that the system of 
the sophists is futile ; or that it is effectual, but immoral. 

' Those who say that it is futile try it by a standard which 
they apply to none of those arts in which they believe. They 
demand that all its disciples shall become finished speakers 
in a year. The success of the sophists is, in fact, equal to 
that of any other class of teachers. Some of their pupils 
become powerful debaters ; others become competent teach- 
ers ; all become more accomplished members of society, 
better critics, more prudent advisers. And what proves 
the training to be scientific, is that all bear the stamp of a 
common method. These who despise such culture assume 
that practice, which develops every other faculty, is useless 
to the intellect ; that the human mind can educate the in- 
stincts of horses and dogs, but cannot train itself ; that 
tame lions and learned bears are possible, but not instructed 
men. 

' Others maintain that Philosophy has an immoral ten- 
dency, and hold it responsible for the faults of a few who 
pervert it. I am not going to defend all who say that they 
are sophists, but only those who say so truly. And first — 
What are the objects which tempt men to be dishonest.-* 
I answer that the object is always one of three things — 
pleasure, profit, or honour. Could it be pleasant, profitable, 
or honourable for a sophist that his pupils should be known 
as rascals .'' It may perhaps be replied that men do not 
always calculate ; that a margin must be left for intemper- 
ate impulse. But, even if a sophist indulged such impulses 
in himself, it could be no more for his pleasure than for his 
interest to encourage them in his pupil. Are the strangers 
who come from Sicily, from the Euxine and other quarters 
to the rhetorical schools of Athens brought hither by the 
desire to become knaves ? Or, if that were their wish, 
could they not find teachers at home .-' But the whole 
tenor of their life among us proves them honest men. 
Again, if power in discourse is in itself a corrupting thing, 
all those who have possessed it, and not some only, ought 
to have been tainted by it. Yet the best statesmen of our 
generation and of the last were those who had most studied 
oratory. To go back to old times, Solon, Kleisthenes, 
Themistocles, Perikles, were all distinguished orators : 



The 

sophistic 
education is 
effectual, 



and not 
immoral. 



The best 
statesmen 
have had 
some kind 
of training. 



io6 Source Book of the History of Education 



The real 
corrupters 
are the 
sycophants. 



Prejudice 
against the 
Sophists is 
due to 
jealousy. 



Speech is 
man's 
noblest gift. 



Solon was even called one of the Seven Sophists. Perikles 
studied under Anaxagoras ^ of Klazomense, and under Da- 
mon,2 who was the ablest Athenian of his time. 

' But I can point out the places in which may be found 
those who are really liable to the charges falsely brought 
against the sophists. Read the tablets, giving notice of 
lawsuits, which are published by the Thesmothetae,^ by the 
Eleven, and by the Forty .^ Among the names of wrong- 
doers and of false accusers which figure there will be 
found those of Lysimachos and his friends, — not mine, 
nor that of any member of our profession. Were we really 
corrupters of youth, our accusers would have been the 
fathers and relatives of those whom we corrupted, — not 
such men as Lysimachos, whose interest it is that Athens 
should be demoralised. Just now I spoke of the hostility 
which some educated men feel towards our art. That hos- 
tility, I venture to hope, will have been disarmed by these 
plain statements. But there is, I think, a jealousy which 
is even more widely spread. It is because all ambitious 
men wish to be able speakers, but are too indolent to work 
for that end, that they dislike those who are ready to go 
through the necessary toil. It is strange that, while Athe- 
nians reproach the Thebans and others with neglecting 
culture, they should revile their fellow-citizens for seeking 
it ; that the goddess of Persuasion should be honoured with 
yearly sacrifice, while those who wish to share her power 
should be regarded as desiring something evil ; that bodily 
training should be esteemed, while mental training — to 
which Athens owes her place in Hellas — - is slighted. 

' If a man used his inherited wealth, his skill as a hoplite^ 
or as an athlete, in doing harm to his fellow-citizens, he 



^ A Greek philosopher of Klazomense in Asia Minor. He first introduced 
philosophy into Athens in the fifth century B.C. 

2 A celebrated musician and music teacher. Plato commends him as a 
desirable companion for young men. 

* The six junior archons at Athens, who administered justice in all cases 
not specifically under the jurisdiction of the three senior archons, or some 
other authority. 

* Judges who went on circuit through the Attic demes trying minor cases. 

* A heavy-armed soldier. 



The New Greek Education 



107 



would be punished, though the founders of his fortune, the 
teachers of his skill, might be praised. The gods have 
given us speech — the power which has civilised human 
life ; and shall we not strive to make the best use of it ? 

* Lysimachos and such as he are not the only enemies of 
Rhetoric. It is attacked also by the professors of Eristic.^ 
Instead of retorting their reproaches, I wish simply to aid 
you in estimating their studies relatively to ours. Eristic 
discussion, like Astrology or Geometry, seems to me not 
to deserve the name of Philosophy, since it has no prac- 
tical bearing ; but, rather, to be a good preparation for 
Philosophy. Schoolboys are trained to work and to think 
accurately by grammar and literary study ; Philosophy 
forms a more manly discipline of the same sort for young 
men. But no one should allow his mind to be dried up by 
barren subtleties, or to drift into such speculations as those 
with which the Ionic physicists juggled. 

' Having said what Philosophy is not, I must try to explain 
what (as I think) it is. My view is very simple. A wise 
man is one who can make a good guess (knowledge being 
impossible) as to what he ought to say and do. A philoso- 
pher, a lover of wisdom, is one who spends his time in the 
pursuits by which he may best gain such perception. And 
what are these pursuits ? My answer will probably shock 
you ; but I should be ashamed to betray the truth for the 
sake of peace in the fraction of life remaining to me. Well, 
then, I hold;that there is no communicable science of Virtue 
or Justice ; but that a man ambitious of speaking well, of 
persuading others, and (in the true sense) of gain, will in- 
cidentally become more virtuous and more just. Desirous 
of speaking with applause, he will occupy himself with the 
noblest themes, and dwell upon the worthiest topics of 
these. Desirous of persuading, he will strive to be just, 
since nothing is so persuasive as a character which is felt 
to be upright. Desirous of real gain, he will seek the 
approval of the gods and the esteem of his fellow-citizens. 
It is only by a perversion of language that the " desire of 
gain " has been associated with knavery ; as " wittiness " 
with buffoonery, and " philosophy " with the mystifications 

^ Controversial philosophical discussion of the character of the Socratic and 
Platonic schools. 



Opposition 
between the 
rhetorical 
and the 
philosophi- 
cal edu- 
cation. 



The true 
nature of 
philosophi- 
cal edu- 
cation. 



Virtue can- 
not be 
taught; but 
the philos- 
opher will 
be virtuous. 



io8 Source Book of the History of Education 



The 

sophistic 
or rhetorical 
education is 
the glory of 
Athens. 



Contrast 
between 
ancient re- 
spect for 
education 
and the 
modern. 



of the elder sophists. This conception of philosophy as 
something unpractical — this tendency to discourage all 
systematic training for affairs — has its result in the lives 
of our youth. Their occupations are to cool wine in the 
Enneakrunos, — to drink in taverns, — to gamble, — to 
haunt the music-schools. The informers do not molest 
those who foster these pursuits. They attack us, who dis- 
courage them ; and say that youths who spend on their 
education a tithe of what others spend on vice, are being 
corrupted. 

' Power of speaking, when simply natural, is admired ; it 
is strange, then, that blame should be cast upon the at- 
tempt to cultivate it. When acquired by labour, the faculty 
is more likely to be used discreetly than when it is an 
accident of genius. Athenians, of all men, ought not to 
despise culture. It is cultivated intelligence which dis- 
tinguishes men from beasts, Hellenes from barbarians, 
Athenians from Hellenes. Athens is regarded as the 
teacher of all who can speak or teach others to speak ; the 
greatest prizes, the best schools, the most constant practice 
are supplied by her. For her to disown the study of elo- 
quence would be as if Sparta laid disabilities on military 
education or the Thessalians on skill in horsemanship. 
In athletic prowess, Athens has many rivals ; in culture, 
none. Her intellectual culture is what most commands 
the admiration of foreigners ; as the prevalence of inform- 
ers is the one blot to which they can point. You ought to 
punish those who bring disgrace upon you, and honour 
those who do you credit. Miltiades, Themistokles, Peri- 
kles, became great by the pursuits which these informers 
vilify. Remembering this, strive to keep the law-courts 
pure for the citizens generally ; and honour the ablest and 
most cultivated among them as the truest guardians of the 
democracy. 

' The length of my defence has already passed due limits ; 
but there are still a few words that I would say to you. It 
is bitter to me to see the informer's trade prospering bet- 
ter than the cause of education. Would our ancestors 
have looked for this .-* Solon, eldest of the Sophists, was 
put by them at the head of the State ; against informers 
they appointed not one mode of procedure only but many, 



The Nezv Greek Educatio7t 109 

— indictment before the Thesmothetae, impeachment be- 
fore the Senate, plaint to the Assembly. And informers 
are worse now than they were then. Their audacity has 
grown with the licence of those demagogues to whom our Power of the 
fathers entrusted the protection of the Athenian empire ; demagogue, 
who, by reproaching our most distinguished citizens as 
oligarchs and partisans of Sparta, made them such, — who 
harassed, and so estranged, our allies, — who brought 
Athens to the verge of slavery. Time is faiHng me ; I 
must cease. Others conclude by committing their cause to 
the mercy of their judges, and the entreaties of their 
friends ; / appeal to my past life. The gods, who have 
protected it hitherto, will protect it now. Your verdict, 
whatever it may be, will be for my good. Let each of you 
give what sentence he will.' 



Selections from the Republic of Plato relating to the Sophists 

BOOK VI 

(491-497.) 

And may we not say, Adeimantus, that the most gifted Education 
minds, when they are ill-educated, become the worst .-' Do ^.'^ongiy 
not great crimes and the spirit of pure evil spring out of a grea*te^r evil 
fulness of nature ruined by education rather than from than 
any inferiority, whereas weak natures are scarcely capable ignorance. 
of any very great good or very great evil .'' 

There I think that you are right. 

And our philosopher follows the same analogy — he is 
like a plant which, having proper nurture, grows and 
matures into all virtue, but, if sown and planted in an alien 
soil, becomes the most noxious of all weeds, unless saved 
by some divine help. Do you really think, as people are 
fond of saying, that our youth are corrupted by Sophists, 
or that private teachers of the art corrupt them in any de- 
gree worth speaking of .'' Are not the public who say 
these things the greatest of all Sophists .'' And do they 
not educate to perfection alike young and old, men and 
women, and fashion them after their own hearts } 

When is this accomplished .'' he said. 

When they meet together, and the world sits down at an 



no Source Book of the History of Education 

assembly, or in a court of law, or a theatre, or a camp, or 
at some other place of resort, and there is a great uproar, 
and they praise some things which are being said or done, 
and blame other things, equally exaggerating in both, 
shouting and clapping their hands, and the echo of the 
rocks and the place in which they are assembled redoubles 
the sound of the praise or blame — at such a time will not 
a young man's heart leap within him ? Will the influences 
of education stem the tide of praise or blame, and not 
rather be carried away in the stream ? And will he not 
have the notions of good and evil which the public in 
general have — he will do as they do, and as they are, 
such will he be ? 

Yes, Socrates ; necessity will compel him. 

And yet, I said, there is a still greater necessity, which 
has not been mentioned. 

What is that ? 

The gentle force of attainder or confiscation or death, 
which, as you are aware, these new Sophists and educa- 
tors, who are the public, apply when their words are 
powerless. 

Indeed they do : of that there can be no doubt. 

Now what opinion of any other Sophist, or of any pri- 
vate man, can be expected to overcome in such an unequal 
contest ? 

None, he replied. 

No, indeed, I said, even to make the attempt is a piece 
of folly; for there neither is, has been, nor ever can be, as 
I think, a better type of character, trained to virtue in de- 
spite of them — I speak, my friend, of man only ; what is 
more than man, as the proverb says, is not included : for I 
would not have you ignorant that, in the present evil state 
of governments, whatever is saved and comes to good is 
saved by the power of God, as you may truly say. 

I quite assent, he repHed. 

Then let me crave your assent also to a further observa- 
The tion. 

Sophists are What are you going to say ? 

nentrof the Why, that all those mercenary individuals, whom the 
popular world calls Sophists and esteems rivals, do but teach the 
corruption, collective opinion of the many, which are the opinions of 



The New Greek Education 1 1 1 

their assemblies ; and this is their wisdom. I might com- 
pare them to a man who should study the tempers and 
desires of a mighty strong beast who is fed by him — he 
would learn how to approach and handle him, also at .what 
times and from what causes he is dangerous or the reverse, 
and what is the meaning of his several cries, and by what 
sounds, when another utters them, he is soothed or infuri- 
ated ; and you may suppose further, that when, by con- 
stantly living with him, he has become perfect in all this 
he calls his knowledge wisdom, and makes a system or art, 
which he proceeds to teach, not that he has any real notion 
of what he is teaching, but he names this honourable and 
that dishonourable, or good or evil, or just or unjust, all in 
accordance with the tastes and tempers of the great brute, 
when he has learnt the meaning of his inarticulate grunts. 
Good he pronounces to be what pleases him and evil what 
he dislikes ; and he can give no other account of them 
except that the just and noble are the necessary, having 
never himself seen, and having no power of explaining to 
others the nature of either, or the immense difference be- 
tween them. Would not he be a rare educator ? 

Indeed he would. 

And in what respects does he who thinks that wisdom is 
the discernment of the tastes and pleasures of the assem- 
bled multitude, whether in painting or music, or, finally, in 
politics, differ from such an one .-' For I suppose you will 
agree that he who associates with the many, and exhibits 
to them his poem or other work of art or the service which 
he has done the State, making them his judges, except 
under protest, will also experience the fatal necessity of 
producing whatever they praise. And yet the reasons are 
utterly ludicrous which they give in confirmation of their 
notions about the honourable and good. Did you ever hear 
any of them which were not .-* 

No, nor am I likely to hear. 

You recognise the truth of what has been said } Then Popular 
let me ask you to consider further whether the world will opinion 
ever be induced to believe in the existence of absolute phnosophi*- 
beauty rather than of the many beautiful, or of the abso- cal knowl- 
lute in each kind rather than of the many in each kind ? edge. 

Certainly not. 



112 Source Book of the History of Education 

Then the world cannot possibly be a philosopher ? 

Impossible. 

And therefore philosophers must inevitably fall under 
the censure of the world ? 

They must. 

And of individuals who consort with the mob and seek 
to please them 1 

That is evident. 

Then, do you see any way in which the philosopher can 
be preserved in his calling to the end t and remember 
what we were saying of him, that he was to have knowl- 
edge and memory and courage and magnanimity — 
these were admitted by us to be the true philosopher's 
gifts. 
•Yes. 

Now, will not such an one be, from the first, in all things 
first among all, especially if his bodily endowments are 
like his mental ones .-' 

Certainly, he said. 

And his friends and fellow-citizens will want to use him 
as he gets older for their own purposes } 

No question. 

Falling at his feet, they will make requests to him and 
do him honour and flatter him, because they want to get 
into their hands now, the power which he will one day 
possess. 

That often happens, he said. 

And what will he do under such circumstances, especially 
if he be a citizen of a great city, rich and noble, and a tall 
proper youth .'' Will he not be full of boundless aspirations, 
and fancy himself able to manage the affairs of Hellenes 
and of barbarians, and therefore will he not dilate and 
elevate himself in the fulness of vain pomp and senseless 
pride ? 

To be sure he will. 

Why Now, when he is in this state of mind, if some one gently 

philosophy comes to him and tells him that he is without sense, which 

isunpopu ar. j^^ niust have, but can only get it by slaving for it, do you 

think that, under such adverse circumstances, he will be 

easily induced to listen .'' 

He would be very unlikely to listen. 



The New Greek Education 1 1 3 

But suppose further that there is one person who has 
feeling, and who, either from some excellence of disposition 
or natural afifinity, is inclined or drawn towards philosophy, 
and his friends think that they are Hkely to lose the advan- 
tages which they were going to reap from his friendship, 
what will be the effect upon them ? Will they not do and 
say anything to prevent his learning and to make his 
teacher powerless, using to this end private intrigues as 
well as public prosecutions ? 

There can be no doubt of it. 

And how can one who is thus circumstanced ever 
become a philosopher? 

Impossible. 

Then were we not right in saying that even the very 
qualities which make a man a philosopher may, if he be 
ill-educated, serve to divert him from philosophy, no less 
than riches and their accompaniments and the other so- 
called goods of life .'' 

We were quite right. 

Thus, my excellent friend, is brought about the ruin and The 
failure of the natures best adapted to the best of all pur- Sophist is 
suits, who, as we assert, are rare at any time ; and this is ru^te^rchi- 
the class out of whom come those who are the authors of losopher. 
the greatest evil to States and individuals ; and also of the 
greatest good when the tide carries them in the direction 
of good ; but a small man never was the doer of any great 
thing either to individuals or States. 

That is most true, he said. 

They fall away, and philosophy is left desolate, with her 
marriage rite incomplete : for her own have forsaken her, 
and while they are leading a false and unbecoming life, 
other unworthy persons, seeing that she has no protector, 
enter in and dishonour her ; and fasten upon her the 
reproaches which her reprovers utter, who say of her vota- 
ries that some of them are good for nothing, and the 
greater number deserving of everything that is bad. 

That is certainly said. 

Yes ; and what else would you expect, I said, when you 
think of the puny creatures who, seeing this land open to 
them — a land well stocked Avith fair names and showy 
titles — like prisoners who run away out of prison into a 



h 



114 Source Book of the History of Education 



The ranks 
of the 

Sophists are 
recruited 
from those 
unworthy of 
an educa- 
tion. 



The char- 
acter of the 
true phi- 
losopher. 



sanctuary, take a leap out of the arts into philosophy ; 
those who do so being probably the cleverest hands at 
their own miserable crafts } For, although philosophy be 
in this evil case, still there remains a dignity about her 
which is not found in the other arts. And many are thus 
attracted by her whose natures are imperfect and whose 
souls are marred and disfigured by their meannesses, as 
their bodies are by their arts and crafts. Is not that true.'' 

Yes. 

Are they not exactly like a bald little tinker who has 
just got out of durance and come into a fortune ; he washes 
the dirt off him and has a new coat, and is decked out as a 
bridegroom going to marry his master's daughter, who is 
left poor and desolate .-• 

The figure is exact. 

And what will be the issue of such marriages } Will 
they not be vile and bastard .-' 

There can be no question of it. 

And when persons who are unworthy of education 
approach philosophy and make an alliance with her who 
is in a rank above them, what sort of ideas and opinions 
are likely to be generated } Will they not be sophisms 
captivating to the ear, yet having nothing in them genuine, 
or worthy of or akin to true wisdom } 

No doubt, he said. 

Then there is a very small remnant, Adeimantus, I said, 
of worthy disciples of philosophy : perchance some noble 
nature, brought up under good influences, and detained by 
exile in her service, who in the absence of temptation 
remains devoted to her ; or some lofty soul born in a mean 
city, the politics of which he contemns or neglects ; and 
perhaps there may be a few who, having a gift for philoso- 
phy, leave other arts, which they justly despise, and come to 
her ; — and peradventure there are some who are restrained 
by our friend Theages' bridle (for Theages, you know, has 
had everything to draw him away ; but his ill-health keeps 
him from politics). My own case of the internal sign is 
indeed hardly worth mentioning, as very rarely, if ever, 
has such a monitor been vouchsafed to any one else. 
Those who belong to this small class have tasted how 
sweet and blessed a possession philosophy is, and have 



The New Greek Educatio7t 1 1 5 

also seen and been satisfied of the madness of the multi- 
tude, and known that there is no one who ever acts honestly 
in the administration of States, nor any helper who defends 
the cause of the just, by whose aid he may be saved. Such 
a defender may be compared to a man who has fallen 
among wild beasts — he would not join in the wickedness 
of his fellows, but neither would he be able alone to resist 
all their fierce natures, and therefore he would be of no 
use to the State or to his friends, and would have to throw 
away his life before he had done any good to himself or 
others. When he reflects upon all this, he holds his peace, 
and does his own business. He is like one who retires 
under the shelter of a wall in the storm of dust and sleet 
which the driving wind hurries along ; and when he sees 
the rest of mankind full of wickedness, he is content if 
only he can hve his own life and be pure from evil or 
unrighteousness, and depart in peace and good-will, with 
bright hopes. 

Yes, he said, and he will have done a great work before 
he departs. 

A great work — yes; but not the greatest, unless he 
find a State suitable to him ; for in a State which is suit- 
able to him, he will have a larger growth and be the saviour 
of his country, as well as of himself. 

Enough, then, of the causes why philosophy is in such 
an evil name ; how unjustly, has been explained ; and now 
is there anything more which you wish to say .'' 



IV. GREEK EDUCATIONAL THEORISTS: 
THE HISTORICAL VIEW 

The Period and the Sources in General. — This phase of 
Greek education does not constitute a distinct period in 
time, but falls in that of the New Greek Education. 
In fact, these writings form but one portion of the litera- 
ture of the Attic period, which is one of the essential 
features or results of the new education. At the same 
time the writings of the theorists present an aspect of 
Greek education wholly different from those treated as 
the old and the new education. The literature on this 
topic is more voluminous than that on any of the others 
so far treated, and includes the writings of Plato and Aris- 
totle as well as the selection from Xenophon first given. 
Incidentally these selections, especially those from Aris- 
totle, give much information concerning the actual prac- 
tices of Greek schools. 

The Problem of the Theorists. — The writers of this 
group, while for the most part contemporary with the 
Sophists, differ from them in two important respects. 
The Sophists were practical teachers and were interested 
in the educational movement of the times chieily in a 
personal way. They claimed to be able to prepare for a 
successful career, and were primarily concerned in achiev- 
ing such a success for themselves. They taught for 
money and for reputation, as do most teachers at the 
present. Some of them, as Socrates, had a profound 

ii6 



Educatio7ial Theory : Historical View 117 

public interest as well, but the earlier Sophists were not 
native Athenians, and had little patriotic or national inter- 
est. On the other hand, the theorists were profoundly- 
interested in education on account of its national impor- 
tance, and so far as practical teachers, they were wholly 
disinterested and refused to accept any remuneration for 
their efforts. The second distinction is a more important 
one. The teachings of the Sophists were wholly critical 
and destructive in character. Their influence accorded 
with the current tendency to reject the old interpretations 
of legend and religious myth, and to produce a religious 
scepticism. At the same time, the claims of the state 
upon the individual were being questioned, and an indif- 
ference or a self-centred individualism replaced the old 
patriotic ardor. In fact, the old religious and political 
morality was being replaced by an individualism that 
made the individual man " the measure of all things." 
On the other hand, while the theorists recognized the 
validity of the criticisms upon the old order, they were 
unwilling to accept the wholly negative and disintegrating 
view. Their attempt was to supply new moral, religious, 
and political motives and ideals that would replace the 
old, now no longer effective. The Sophists believed that 
the interest of the individual was a sufficient motive and 
an adequate ideal. The theorists sought to find this in 
higher forms of hfe than had hitherto been realized, 
and strove to develop a higher morality and a broader 
patriotism than had hitherto existed, for the most part, by 
some reform in education. Some of these new educa- 
tional schemes suggested, such as the Republic, are wholly 
idealistic ; others, such as the Cyropcedia and the Laws, are 
but modifications or purifications of the old regime. 



1 1 8 Source Book of the History of Educatio7i 

Socrates was the source of, and furnished the inspira- 
tion for, this entire movement in educational thought. 
Though he has left no writings, the character and the 
substance of his teachings can be quite accurately repro- 
duced from the writings of his pupils, Xenophon and Plato. 
Socrates lived from 469 to 399 b.c. The earlier portion 
of his life was spent as a sculptor, but the middle and later 
portion, though from what exact date is not known, as a 
teacher. Yet he never opened a school or delivered pub- 
lic lectures, in these respects differing from the Sophists 
and from the philosophers who continued his line of 
thought and work. His method was to engage in con- 
versation any interested person, either old or young, in 
the market-place, the shop, or the gymnasium. In the 
latter places he found abundant opportunity, and there 
his teachings were especially influential upon those just 
entering that period of their education, hitherto devoted 
wholly to physical training and the service of the state. 
With these, his influence was wholly at variance with the 
old training, and was at one with that of the Sophists 
in inclining the youth to neglect the old training and to 
devote their time to intellectual development. His custom 
of teaching wholly through conversation was of importance 
educationally in that it introduced an entirely new method 
of study and teaching. As opposed to the old methods of 
the early philosophers and of the popular Sophists, this 
method was essentially inductive; though with Socrates 
it was applied to a limited field only, that of the phenom- 
ena of human conduct, as opposed to the old interest in 
physical investigation or speculation. It is through this 
new method that Socrates came to be the founder of 
ethics and of philosophy as it relates to the theory of 



Educational Theory : Historical View 1 1 9 

knowledge. At the same time the new method was 
responsible for the sharp distinction between the prac- 
tical life which was essentially unworthy and to be escaped 
from, and the ideal life devoted to subjective good, to be 
attained by withdrawing from, or rising above, the ordinary 
cares and interests in life. Hence, so far as the effects 
upon the political and religious obligation of Greek society 
as then organized were concerned, the influence of Socrates 
was identical with the individualistic teachings of the 
Sophists. Yet the whole purpose and spirit of the teach- 
ing of Socrates was to oppose this individualism. 

He agreed with them in rejecting the external authority 
of the state or of the old religion in shaping the purpose 
of education or of life itself ; on the other hand, he rejected 
their conclusion that the individual man furnished the sole 
standard. To Socrates this standard was furnished by the 
universal in man, — by that which he possessed in common 
with all others. This common possession was " knowl- 
edge," as opposed to the opinion of the individual, which 
the Sophists had exalted as the sole criterion of conduct. 
Socrates sought to develop this knowledge by his method 
of conversation. The subject-matter of his conversation 
and of his teaching, then, was knowledge, but knowledge 
in the limited sense already indicated. The ancients ex- 
pressed this influence of Socrates in the saying that he 
brought down philosophy from heaven to earth. Hitherto 
the advanced intellectual life of the Greeks was concerned 
with astronomy and physics ; hereafter it was concerned 
with man's moral and intellectual nature. Concerning 
such investigation, Socrates asks : " Do these inquirers 
think that they already know human affairs well enough, 
that they thus begin to meddle with the divine .'' Do they 



I20 Source Book of the History of Education 

think that they shall be able to excite or calm the winds 
and the rain at pleasure, or have they no other view than 
to gratify an idle curiosity ? Surely, they must see that 
such matters are beyond human investigation. Only let 
them recollect how much the greatest men, who attempted 
the investigation, differ in their pretended results, holding 
opinions extreme and opposite to each other, like those of 
madmen." ^ On the other hand, " Socrates," says Xeno- 
phon, " continued discussing human affairs ; investigating, 
What is piety ? What is impiety .? What is the honorable 
and the base .^ What is the just and the unjust.? What 
is temperance or the unsound mind .<* What is courage or 
cowardice .-* What is a city .-' What is the character fit 
for a citizen ? What is authority over men .•" What is the 
character befitting the exercise of such authority .-' and 
other similar questions. Men who knew these matters he 
accounted good and honorable ; men who were ignorant 
of them he assimilated to slaves." While Socrates gave 
a new purpose to education, that of discovering what 
knowledge was, thus furnishing a new ideal to life and a 
new basis for society ; while he suggested a new content 
to education, the study of man's moral and intellectual 
natures ; while he gave a new method, the dialectic or con- 
versational inductive, — he did not suggest any means for 
making his teachings effective either through establishing a 
school for disseminating his ideas, or by outlining a scheme 
of education. His followers did both of these things. 

Xenophon was a pupil of Socrates and gave the practical 
aspect of his master's character and teachings, just as 
Plato gave the more intellectual aspect of his character 
and the speculative tendency of his teaching. Selections 

^ Xenophon, Memorabilia, I. i. 12, etc. Grate's translation. 



Educational Theory: Historical View 121 

from the Socratic writings of Xenophon have already been 
given. Xenophon's solution of the educational problem 
set by the changes occurring in Grecian society in the 
fifth and fourth centuries, is the simplest of all solutions 
offered. It is found in the opening chapters of the Cyro- 
pcedia, one of his latest works. In fact, it was not written till 
near the middle of the fourth century. The Cyropcedia is a 
political romance, and is even less reliable, in its historical 
data, than Xenophon's other historical works. It purports 
to be a biography of the Persian monarch, Cyrus, and a 
description of the great Oriental monarch. It is, in reality, 
an exposition of Xenophon's ideal of government drawn 
from his own theories, and his intimate knowledge of 
Spartan institutions, with Oriental coloring supplied from 
his earlier experience. It has little value as a source of 
information concerning Persian education, notwithstanding 
its use for this purpose. Nor is it of more worth as a 
source concerning the actual practices of Grecian educa- 
tion, though many of its features are wholly Spartan. 
Xenophon was an Athenian by birth but a Spartan in 
sympathies, and was wholly opposed to the democratic 
tendency in the Athenian government and society. His 
military career was either in the service of the Spartan 
state or with Grecian mercenaries, chiefly Spartan. His 
children were educated at Sparta, and his fondness for 
Spartan customs is evident in his writings. Even his long 
exile from Athens vv^as spent, though not at Sparta, at least 
in neighboring Dorian territory. 

Xenophon's solution of the educational problem was a 
return to the old education, in which the means and the 
system should be largely Spartan, with the ideals those of 
the old Athenian period. In his scheme education is 



122 Source Book of the History of Education 

largely social, that is, military and moral in its purposes. 
The intellectual element is wholly eliminated, as at Sparta. 
In respect to its application to various classes in society 
and to women, it resembles Athenian rather than Spartan 
custom. The classification into periods is Spartan, as are 
also the means used, such as military drill, hunting, con- 
versation with elders, the passing of judgment upon the 
conduct of companions, and the severe physical and 
dietetic discipline. In depending upon the general organ- 
ization of society as an educational institution rather than 
upon the special institution of schools of a private char- 
acter, the scheme is Spartan. The selective character of 
each stage in the educational system resembles Athenian 
customs in that it restricted the higher stages of training, 
and hence the most important political positions to the 
youths that came from the wealthiest families. In this 
respect it also resembles the ideal state of Plato, though, 
with the communism of the Republic, merit rather than 
wealth and birth formed the essential element in worth. 
In general Xenophon's plan was simply a restatement of 
the old conservative position, formulated in Persian rather 
than Spartan terms, probably in deference to the intense 
dislike at Athens for things Spartan as a result of the 
Peloponnesian conflict. The solutions offered by Plato 
and Aristotle are much more elaborate and original, and of 
much greater influence upon thought. 

Selections from the Cyropcedia of Xenopkon 

CHAPTER II 

I. Cyrus is said to have had for his father Cambyses, 
king of the Persians. Cambyses was of the race of Per- 
seidse, who were so called from Perseus. It is agreed that 



Educational Theory: Historical View 123 



he was born of a mother named Mandane ; and Mandane 
was the daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes. Cyrus 
is described, and is still celebrated by the Barbarians, as 
having been most handsome in person, most humane in 
disposition, most eager for knowledge, and most ambitious 
of honour ; so that he would undergo any labour and face 
any danger for the sake of obtaining praise. 2. Such is 
the constitution of mind and body that he is recorded to 
have had ; and he was educated in conformity with the 
laws of the Persians. 

These laws seem to begin with a provident care for the 
common good ; not where they begin in most other gov- 
ernments ; for most governments, leaving each individual 
to educate his children as he pleases, and the advanced in 
age to live as they please, enjoin their people not to steal, 
not to plunder, not to enter a house by violence, not to 
strike any one whom it is wrong to strike, not to be adul- 
terous, not to disobey the magistrates, and other such 
things in like manner ; and, if people transgress any of 
these precepts, they impose punishments upon them. 
3. But the Persian laws, by anticipation, are careful to 
provide from the beginning, that their citizens shall not 
be such as to be inclined to any action that is bad and 
mean. This care they take in the following manner. 
They have an Agora,^ called the Free, where the king's 
palace and other houses for magistrates are built; all things 
for sale, and the dealers in them, their cries and coarsenesses, 
are banished from hence to some other place ; that the 
disorder of these may not interfere with the regularity of 
those who are under instruction. 4. This Agora, round the 
public courts, is divided into four parts ; of these, one is 
for the boys, one for the youth, one for the full-grown 
men, and one for those who are beyond the years for mili- 
tary service. Each of these divisions, according to the 
law, attend in their several quarters; the boys and full- 
grown men as soon as it is day ; the elders when they 
think convenient, except upon appointed days, when they 
are obliged to be present. The youth pass the night 
round the courts, in their light arms, except such as are 
married ; for these are not required to do so, unless orders 

^ An open square, free from buying and selling. 



Comparison 
of character 
of Persian 
laws with the 
laws of other 
countries. 



Their educa- 
tional insti- 
tution. 



Training of 
the boys. 



Justice, the 
aim and the 
substance of 
Persian 
education. 



Training in 

self-control, 

obedience, 

and 

temperance. 



124 Source Book of the History of Education 

have been previously given them ; nor is it becoming in 
them to be often absent. 5. Over each of the classes 
there are twelve presidents, for there are twelve distinct 
tribes of the Persians. Those over the boys are chosen 
from amongst the elders, and are such as are thought 
likely to make them the best boys ; those over the youth 
are chosen from amongst the full-grown men, and are 
such as are thought likely to make them the best youth ; 
and over the full-grown men, such as are thought likely 
to render them the most expert in performing their ap- 
pointed duties, and in executing the orders given by the 
chief magistrate. There are likewise chosen presidents 
over the elders, who take care that these also perform 
their duties. What it is prescribed to each age to do, we j 
shall relate, that it may be the better understood how the 
Persians take precautions that excellent citizens may be 
produced. 

6. The boys attending the public schools, pass their 
time in learning justice; and say that they go for this 
purpose, as those with us say who go to learn to read. 
Their presidents spend the most part of the day in dis- 
pensing justice amongst them; for there are among the 
boys, as among the men, accusations for theft, robbery, 
violence, deceit, calumny, and other such things as natu- 
rally occur ; and such as they convict of doing wrong, in 
any of these respects, they punish ; 7. they punish like- 
wise such as they find guilty of false accusation ; they 
appeal to justice also in the case of a crime for which men 
hate one another excessively, but for which they never go 
to law, that is, ingratitude ; and whomsoever they find 
able to return a benefit, and not returning it, they punish 
severely. For they think that the ungrateful are careless 
with regard to the gods, their parents, their country, and 
their friends ; and upon ingratitude seems closely to fol- 
low shamelessness, which appears to be the principal con- 
ductor of mankind into all that is dishonourable. 

8. They also teach the boys self-control ; and it contrib- 
utes much towards their learning to control themselves, 
that they see every day their elders behaving themselves 
with discretion. They teach them also to obey their 
officers ; and it contributes much to this end, that they 



Educatio7ial Theory: Historical View 125 



see their elders constantly obedient to their officers. They 
teach them temperance with respect to eating and drink- 
ing ; and it contributes much to this object, that they see 
that their elders do not quit their stations to satisfy their 
appetites, until their officers dismiss them, and that the 
boys themselves do not eat with their mothers, but with 
their teachers, and when the officers give the signal. 
They bring from home with them bread, and a sort of 
cresses to eat with it ; and a cup to drink from, that, if 
any are thirsty, they may take water from the river. They 
learn, besides, to shoot with the bow, and to throw the 
javelin. These exercises the boys practise until they are 
sixteen or seventeen years of age, when they enter the 
class of young men. 

9. The young men pass their time thus: For ten years Education of 
after they go from the class of boys, they pass the night the young 
round the courts, as I have said before, both for the secur- 
ity and guard of the city, and for the sake of practising Military, 
self-restraint ; for this age seems most to need superinten- 
dence. During the day they keep themselves at the com- 
mand of their officers, in case they want them for any 
public service ; and when it is necessary they all wait at 
the courts. But whenever the king goes out to hunt, he 
takes half the guard out with him, and leaves half of it In hunting, 
behind ; and this he does several times every month. 
Those that go out must have their bow, with a quiver, a 
bill or small sword in a sheath, a light shield, and two 
javelins, one to throw, and the other, if necessary, to use 
at hand. 10. They attend to hunting as a matter of 
public interest, and the king, as in war, is their leader, 
hunting himself, and seeing that others do so ; because it 
seems to them to be the most efficient exercise for all such 
things as relate to war. It accustoms them to rise early 
in the morning, and to bear heat and cold ; it exercises 
them in long marches, and in running ; it necessitates 
them to use their bow against the beast' that they hunt, 
and to throw their javelin, wherever he falls in their way, 
their courage must, of necessity, be often sharpened in 
the hunt, when any of the strong and vigorous beasts pre- 
sent themselves ; for they must come to blows with the 
; animal if he comes up to them, and must be upon their 



1 26 Source Book of the History of Education 



Practice 
reenforces 
early 
training. 



Manhood in 
the service 
of the state, 



guard as he approaches ; so that it is not easy to find what 
single thing, of all that is practised in war, is not to be 
found in hunting. 1 1. They go out to hunt provided with a 
dinner, larger, indeed, as is but right, than that of the boys, 
but in other respects the same ; and during the hunt per- 
haps they may not eat it ; but if it be necessary to remain 
on the ground to watch for the beast, or if for any other 
reason they wish to spend more time in the hunt, they sup 
upon this dinner, and hunt again the next day till supper 
time, and reckon these two days as but one, because they 
eat the food of but one day. This abstinence they prac- 
tise to accustom themselves to it, so that, should it be nec- 
essary in war, they may be able to observe it. Those of 
this age have what they catch for meat with their bread ; 
or, if they catch nothing, their cresses. And, if any one 
think that they eat without pleasure when they have 
cresses only with their bread, and that they drink without 
pleasure when they drink only water, let him recollect 
how pleasant barley cake or bread is to eat to one who is 
hungry, and how pleasant water is to drink to one who is 
thirsty. 

12. The parties that remain at home pass their time in 
practising what they learned while they were boys, as well 
as other things, such as using the bow and throwing the 
javelin; and they pursue these exercises with mutual 
emulation, as there are public contests in their several 
accomplishments, and prizes offered ; and in whichsoever 
of the tribes there are found the most who excel in skill, 
in courage, and in obedience, the citizens applaud and 
honour, not only the present commander of them, but also 
the person who had the instruction of them when they 
were boys. The magistrates likewise make use of the 
youth that remain at home, if they want them, to keep 
guard upon any occasion, to search for malefactors, to 
pursue robbers, or for any other business that requires 
strength and agility. In these occupations the youth are 
exercised. 

But when they have completed their ten years, they 
enter into the class of full-grown men; 13. who, from the 
time they leave the class of youth, pass five and twenty 
years in the following manner. First, like the youth, they 



Educational Theory: Historical Viezv 127 

keep themselves at the command of the magistrates, that 
they may use their services, if it should be necessary, for 
the public good, in whatever employments require the 
exertions of such as have discretion, and. are yet in vigour. 
If it be necessary to undertake any military expedition, in war, 
they who are in this state of discipline do not march out 
with bows and javelins, but with what are called arms for 
close fight, a corslet over the breast, a shield in the left in rendering 
hand, such as that with which the Persians are painted, justice, and 
and, in the right, a large sword or bill. All the magis- [heWs"^ 
trates are chosen from this class, except the teachers of the 
boys; and, when they have completed five and twenty 
years in this class, they will then be something more than 
fifty years of age, and pass into the class of such as are 
elders, and are so called. 14. These elders no longer go 
on any military service abroad, but, remaining at home, 
have the dispensation of public and private justice ; they 
take cognizance of matters of life and death, and have the 
choice of all magistrates ; and, if any of the youth or full- 
grown men fail in anything enjoined by the laws, the 
several magistrates of the tribes, or any one that chooses, 
gives information of it, when the elders hear the cause, 
and pass sentence upon it; and the person that is con- 
demned remains infamous for the rest of his life. 

15. But that the whole Persian form of government Character of 
may be shown more clearly, I shall go back a little ; for, Persian 
from what has been already said, it may now be set forth 
in a very few words. The Persians are said to be in num- 
ber about a hundred and twenty thousand ; of these no 
individual is excluded by law from honours and magistracies, 
but all are at liberty to send their boys to the public 
schools of justice. Those who are able to maintain their A class 
children without putting them to work, send them to these education, 
schools ; they who are unable, do not send them. Those 
who are thus educated under the public teachers, are at 
liberty to pass their youth in the class of young men ; 
they who are not so educated, have not that liberty. They 
who pass their term among the young men, discharging 
all things enjoined by the law, are allowed to be incorpo- 
rated amongst the full-grown men, and to partake of all 
honours and magistracies ; but they who do not complete 



1 28 Sotirce Book of the History of Edtication 

their course in the class of youth, do not pass into that of 
full-grown men. Those who make their progress through 
the order of full-grown men unexceptionably, are then 
enrolled among the elders ; so that the order of elders 
stands composed of men who have pursued their course 
through all things good and excellent. Such is the form 
of government among the Persians, and such the care 
bestowed upon it, by the observance of which they think 
that they become the best citizens. 16. . . . 

These particulars I had to state concerning the Persians 
in general. I will now relate the actions of Cvrus, upon 
whose account this narrative was undertaken, beginning 
from his boyhood. 



V. GREEK EDUCATIONAL THEORISTS: THE 
PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW 

The Period and the Authority. — As has been already- 
indicated, the period is that of the conflict between the 
old and the new educational ideas. Plato is the most 
important representative of the educational theorists, 
whether judged from the extent, the immediate influ- 
ence, or the permanent suggestiveness, of his writings. 
Plato was born in 428 or 427 B.C., probably in Athens. 
Until the age of twenty his interest was centred in poetry 
and music. He then fell under the influence of Socrates. 
From that time until the death of Socrates, eight years 
later, Plato was one of his most devoted pupils. The 
thirteen years following the death of his master, Plato 
devoted to travel and to the study of philosophy, mathe- 
matics, and kindred subjects, chiefly in Italy, Sicily, and 
Egypt. In 386 Plato returned permanently to Athens 
and began his continuous formal teaching. Here, in a 
private home and garden adjoining the sacred garden and 
gymnasium of Academus, Plato established his school, the 
first of the permanent philosophical schools. For thirty-six 
years Plato taught a distinguished group of pupils, drawn 
not only from Athens, but also from many distant places 
as well. During this long period most of the dialogues 
were produced, though not one of them contains any defi- 
nite internal evidence of its date. For thirty-three years 
after the death of Plato the school was under the direc- 

K 129 



130 Source Book of the History of Education 

tion of teachers that had been in close personal contact 
with the founder. During this period the Platonic writ- 
ings were carefully preserved and copies made, so that it 
is believed that the complete works are extant. In the 
latest group of the dialogues fall the two that contain 
the educational discussions, — the Republic and the Lazvs. 

The Republic is the great constructive work of Plato. Its 
professed subject is, What is Justice } But this subject is 
expanded to include a theory of psychology, a theory of 
knowledge, a theory of the soul, a theory of the state or 
of politics, a theory of human society, or of ethics, and a 
theory of education, with the last of which alone these 
selections have to do. Plato's solution of the problem 
raised by the conflict between the new education and the 
old, is the formation of a new state based upon the princi- 
ple of justice, that principle in the state coinciding with 
happiness, or rather virtue, in the individual. To deter- 
mine the nature of justice and the means of establishing it, 
is the chief purpose of the dialogue. The Platonic scheme 
of education is the result. Since justice is to be developed 
from the " knowledge " or " intelligence " of Socrates, the 
nature of justice and of the state can be most readily dis- 
covered by an analysis of the individual. The faculties 
of the individual are three : the intelligence, seated in the 
head ; courage or spirit, a function of the heart ; the appe- 
tites, lodged in the abdomen. Each has its proper function, 
which constitutes its worth. When properly performed, 
the functioning of the inteUigence constitutes prudence ; 
that of courage, fortitude; that of the appetites, temperance. 
The combination of these three produces individual well- 
being, or virtue. 

By a similar analysis, the faculties of society are found 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 131 

in the three great classes, the philosophic, the military, and 
the industrial. The virtues of these classes correspond to 
the virtues of the faculties of the individual. The proper 
function of the first class is to rule ; of the second, is to 
protect; of the third, to support. The combination of 
these virtues in society produces justice. 

Plato defines the principles that are yet recognized as 
the basis of society, the reciprocity of needs and services, 
and the education of each individual for the performance 
of some function in this interchange of services. If the 
Platonic restriction of these needs and services to special 
classes is a marked limitation, it is to be recalled that this 
discussion forms one of the earliest analyses in the history 
of ethics. 

It will be recalled that the Socratic solution of the edu- 
cational problem was that the new state of society was to 
be based on knowledge, that the germs of knowledge were ' 
inherent in every human being, by virtue of his own expe- 
rience, and that these germs could be developed by the 
dialectic process. Plato departs from this solution in two 
important respects. He elaborates a definite theory of 
knowledge, more restricted than that of Socrates. As 
with Socrates, knowledge in the Platonic sense consists 
of whole thoughts ; but whole thoughts are ideas, are uni- 
versal as opposed to individuals. Such knowledge can 
be attained only by a few ; while the germs of knowledge 
are present in the experience of every one, and can be 
developed by reflection and the dialectic process, knowl- 
edge itself can be attained only by those who have a 
higher, a sixth sense, the sense for ideas. Those who have 
this sense form the philosophic class, and they alone are 
free, — they alone should rule society. This is the second 



132 Source Book of the History of Education 

important divergence from .the Socratic teaching. Knowl- 
edge is not an actual possession, or even a possible posses- 
sion, of every human being. Hence every one cannot be 
free, cannot control his own conduct by the knowledge 
which he may attain. It is only a certain Hmited class, the 
philosophers, that can do so. The appropriate function of 
these philosophers, then, since they alone can see the truth, 
is not only to direct their own conduct, but that of all mem- 
bers of the other classes. The philosophers are to be the 
rulers of the new society, when " philosophers are kings, 
or the kings and the princes of this world have the spirit 
and power of philosophy." The production of this class 
of guardians, and the perpetuation of this ideal state, forms 
the aim of the scheme of education elaborated in the 
Republic. 

The educational system of the Republic is designed 
especially for the guardian class ; though all classes are 
to profit by the earlier stages of instruction, since one chief 
purpose of the system is to select the guardians. The 
Republic itself falls into two general divisions, each con- 
taining a discussion of a state and of a type of education. 
Both the state and the education of the first division, 
Books I. to v., inclusive, are very closely modelled after the 
actual Athenian conditions ; in the second division. Books 
V. to X., the state becomes the ideal kingdom of the phi- 
losophers and the education there given is that suited to 
develop a philosophic class. The two schemes are really 
in opposition, though, as Plato suggests, the earlier sketch 
may be taken as an introduction to the later scheme. The 
education of the first four books is based upon the accepted 
Hellenic ideas of religion and morality, but in some re- 
spects is supplemented and purified. Plato holds that the 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 133 

Greeks in their education had really " builded better than 
they knew." In this portion of the Republic he aims to 
base their practices on theory instead of upon experience, 
and to make explicit that which has hitherto been but 
non-rational custom. Education is comprehended in its 
two aspects, music and gymnastic ; but the literary element 
of music is purified by the exclusion of the early poetry 
dealing with mythical subjects and is supplemented by a 
mathematical discipline, while gymnastic is now organized 
as a moral as well as physical discipline, and becomes 
largely military in character. The chief purpose of the 
discussion presented in the first selections is to clarify the 
principles underlying the old Greek educational practices, 
which had been developed empirically and not as a result of 
reflection. This scheme of education is designed for the first 
seventeen or eighteen years of life, and is for all youths, 
preparatory to the more rigid discipline for those who can 
profit by the highest theoretical education. 

The education of the select guardian class is described 
in detail in Book VII. For those who have demonstrated 
themselves worthy of this higher discipline, the period from 
twenty to thirty is devoted to scientific study, chiefly of a 
mathematical character. This division between the ele- 
mentary and the higher education forms the basis for the 
subsequent division of the curriculum into the trivium and 
the quadrivium of the "seven liberal arts." The purpose 
of this prolonged discipline is to perfect the future phi- 
losophers in the grasp of fundamental laws and principles 
underlying all life and thought. This study is not to be 
separated from practical duties of military and civic char- 
acter. The effect of this combined training of practical 
and theoretical character is to eliminate a large number of 



134 Source Book of the History of Education 

those who have passed through the elementary training, 
and to indicate a yet more select class that can profit by 
the highest discipline of all, the philosophical. For the 
elect, the period from thirty to thirty-five is to be devoted 
wholly to philosophical pursuits and dialectic training. 
Only the ablest minds and the most stable characters can 
profit by this highest of intellectual efforts. From thirty- 
five to fifty these philosophers are to be the guardians of 
society, and are to devote themselves to the practical duties 
of public life. After the fiftieth year the practical life, 
now much less onerous in its character, is again merged 
in philosophical pursuits ; that is, the philosopher who 
has meanwhile tested principle by experience is prepared 
to deepen his insight into fundamental truth, not only for 
his own sake, but for the benefit of society as well. 

While Plato's ideal state was never realized, the idea 
education, separated from practical civic life, was approxi- 
mated in the formation of the philosophical schools and 
the mystical religious societies and, in a later religious form, 
in the Christian church. Yet there remains the educational 
truth, essential for all times, that education is a Hfe process, 
and that it should not be divorced at any time from actual 
life. In this latter respect the influence of Plato was quite 
at variance with his doctrine. 

The Laws form a marked contrast with the Republic 
both in the theory of the state there advanced and in the 
scheme of education there advocated. So sharp is this 
contrast in some points that the authenticity of the Laws 
has been questioned. This scepticism is based upon in- 
feriority of style as well as of ideas, but it finds no general 
support. This work is probably the last of Plato's com- 
positions, being written during the last seven years of his 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 135 

life, when he was over seventy years of age. In many 
minor characteristics the Laws are in contrast with the 
other Platonic dialogues, these formal differences indicat- 
ing a real change in the author's convictions. This dia- 
logue is one of the few in which Socrates does not appear, 
and is the only one the scene of which is not located at 
Athens. This accords with the fact that the speculative 
element is almost wholly wanting, and that throughout it 
is dogmatic in a way wholly at variance with that of Soc- 
rates. The attitude of Socrates in the dialogues is that of 
an inquirer for knowledge, not that of a possessor : the 
Athenian in the Laws, who represents Plato's views, speaks 
with the utmost assurance on all topics, with the assumption 
that truth needs no longer to be sought for, but has been 
discovered. There is, indeed, a manifest intolerance, es- 
pecially in religious matters, which is in such marked con- 
trast with the usual Platonic attitude that it has formed an 
important feature in the argument against the Platonic 
authorship. In a similar way there is a marked contrast 
in the manner of treatment. The style is no longer con- 
versational, but is more in the form of continuous discourse. 
In the latter half of the work the dialogue practically dis- 
appears. The selections from the Republic illustrate the 
dialectic method popularized, if not introduced, by Soc- 
rates ; the Latus in its continuous, dogmatic, formal dis- 
course exemphfies the method of the rhetorical schools. 

The relation of the Laws to the Republic is indicated in 
paragraph 739 of the former. " The first and highest 
form of the state, and of the government and of the law 
is that in which there prevails most widely the ancient 
saying, that * Friends have all things in common.' . . . 
Such a state, whether inhabited by Gods or by sons of 



136 Source Book of the History of Education 

Gods, will make them blessed who dwell therein : and 
therefore to this we are to look for the pattern of the 
state, and to cling to this, and, so far as possible, to seek 
for one which is like this. The state which we now have 
in hand when created will be nearest to immortahty and 
unity in the next degree." The Republic is an ideal im- 
possible of attainment : the Lazvs forms the nearest possi- 
ble approximation to the ideal. The events at Athens, and 
the failure of the attempt at Syracuse to realize the gov- 
ernment by philosophers, led Plato to the radical modifica- 
tion of the scheme outlined in the Republic. Elsewhere 
Plato indicates the relation of the two types of government 
and of education. The most perfect state is that in which 
there are no rigid laws, but which is under the direction of 
the intelligent despot that possesses all wisdom, or of a 
class of such philosophers. In case such an ideal is 
unrealizable, the next best government is one in which a 
rigid scheme of laws framed by philosophers is enforced 
by officials who have no power to modify the laws. Such 
a government Plato formulates in the Laws. The first 
four books are merely introductory ; the fifth gives the 
outhne of the constitution ; the last six are devoted to the 
laws in detail. The class of guardians now gives place to 
an hereditary prince, a commissioner of education, an elec- 
tive senate, and a body of officials chosen by lot. 

As it calls for no guardian class, for which the whole 
scheme of education must be shaped, the Laws offers a 
scheme of education radically different from that pre- 
sented in the Republic. Not only are poets banished, as 
in the Republic, but there is now no place for philoso- 
phers, who, if not banished, are at least ignored. Hence, 
the phase of education in the earher work devoted to phi- 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 137 

losophy is entirely eliminated. Education culminates in 
science and mathematics, but after the manner of the 
Pythagoreans, it is a mathematics closely allied to religion. 
Arithmetic and geometry, developing the idea of harmony, 
culminate in astronomy, which is closely allied with astrol- 
ogy. This astrological religion forms the basis of society. 
Plato praises the religious and ethical conditions in primi- 
tive society, quite after the manner of Aristophanes ; but 
finding it impossible to advise a return to the gross poly- 
theism of the early Greeks, he substitutes for it a mix- 
ture of Pythagorean philosophy and Oriental or Egyptian 
astrology. This education, no longer having any connec- 
tion with his doctrine of ideas, is the same for all. The 
outline of education, with the omission of the higher stage, 
is quite similar to that of the Republic, though animated 
throughout by a different spirit. The literary element now 
becomes small. It is most strictly guarded by the state, on 
the assumption that social decay in Athenian society has 
been due to a corruption in music and in literature. In 
detail the entire scheme more nearly approximates the 
accepted Greek education. It is, however, a combination of 
selected Athenian and Spartan elements rather than a close 
imitation of either. The common meals, the education of 
both sexes, the public character of the education, its uni- 
formity, the close superintendence of private life, are Spar- 
tan ; the literary elements, the philosophy of the curriculum, 
the Bacchic choruses, its festive character, are Athenian. 
The strong emphasis on mathematics represents the Pythag- 
orean influence that became so strong in Plato's later life. 
While in immediate importance and in permanent value the 
education of the Laws cannot compare with that of the 
Republic f\\s> historic elements are of somewhat greater value. 



138 Source Book of the History of Education 
Selections from the Republic of Plato 

PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE 

Socrates, who is the narrator. Cephalus. 
Glaucon. Thrasymachus. 

Adeimantus. Cleitophon. 

polemarchus. 

And others who are mute auditors. 

The scene is laid in the house of Cephalus at the Piraeus ; and the 
whole discourse is narrated the day after it actually took place, to 
TiMiEUS, Hermocrates, Critias, and a nameless person. 



BOOK II 



Justice or 
the end of 
the state de- 
pendent 
upon 
education. 



Divisions of 
education. 



Then he who is to be a really good and noble guardian 
of the State will require to unite in himself philosophy and 
spirit and swiftness and strength } 

Undoubtedly. 

Then we have found the desired natures ; and now that 
we have found them, how are they to be reared and edu- 
cated .'' Is this an enquiry which may be fairly expected 
to throw light on the greater enquiry which is our final end — 
How do justice and injustice grow up in States ? for we do 
not want to be tedious and irrelevant, or to leave out any- 
thing which is really to the point. 

Adeimantus thought that the enquiry would be of great 
use to us. 

Then, I said, my dear friend, the task must not be given 
up, even if somewhat long. 

Certainly not. 

Come then, and let us pass a leisure hour in story telling, 
and our story shall be the education of our heroes. 

By all means. 

And what shall be their education .-' Can we find a better 
than the old-fashioned sort .-' — and this has two divisions, 
gymnastic for the body, and music for the soul. 

True. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 139 



shall be 
made of 
literature? 



Shall we begin education with music, and go on to gym- 
nastic afterwards ? 

By all means. 

And when you speak of music, do you rank literature What use 
under music or not ? 

I do. 

And literature may be either true or false .'' 

Yes. 

And the young are trained in both kinds, and in the false 
before the true .'' 

I do not understand your meaning, he said. 

You know, I said, that we begin by telling children stories 
which, though not wholly destitute of truth, are in the main 
fictitious ; and these stories are told them when they are not 
of an age to learn gymnastics. 

Very true. 

That was my meaning in saying that we must teach music 
before gymnastics. 

Quite right, he said. 

You know also that the beginning is the chiefest part of 
any work, especially in a young and tender thing ; for that 
is the time at which the character is being formed and most 
readily receives the desired impression. 

Quite true. 

And shall we just carelessly allow children to hear any 
casual tales which may be framed by casual persons, and 
to receive into their minds notions which are the very oppo- 
site of those which are to be held by them when they are 
grown up .'' 

We cannot. 

Then the first thing will be to have a censorship of the 
writers of fiction, and let the censors receive any tale of fic- 
tion which is good, and reject the bad ; and we will desire 
mothers and nurses to tell their children the authorised ones 
only. Let them fashion the mind with these tales, even 
more fondly than they form the body with their hands ; 
and most of those which are now in use must be discarded. 

Of what tales are you speaking } he said. 

You may find a model of the lesser in the greater, I said; 
for they are necessarily cast in the same mould, and there 
is the same spirit in both of them. 



140 Source Book of the History of Educatio7i 



Objections 
to the use of 
the Homeric 
poems and 
the early 
literature of 
the Greeks. 



Their moral 

influence 

bad. 



That may be very true, he replied ; but I do not as yet 
know what you would term the greater. 

Those, I said, which are narrated by Homer and Hesiod, 
and the rest of the poets, who have ever been the great 
story-tellers of mankind. 

But which stories do you mean, he said ; and what fault 
do you find with them ? 

A fault which is most serious, I said ; the fault of telling 
a lie, and, what is more, a bad lie. 

But when is this fault committed .-' 

Whenever an erroneous representation is made of the 
nature of gods and heroes, — like the drawing of a limner 
which has not the shadow of a likeness to the truth. 

Yes, he said, that sort of thing is certainly very blame- 
able ; but what are the stories which you mean .'' 

First of all, I said, there was that greatest of all lies in 
high places, which the poet told about Uranus, and which 
was a bad lie too, — I mean what Hesiod says that Uranus 
did, and what Cronus did to him. The doings of Cronus, 
and the sufferings which in turn his son inflicted upon him, 
even if they were true, ought certainly not to be lightly told 
to young and simple persons ; if possible, they had better 
be buried in silence. But if there is an absolute necessity 
for their mention, a chosen few might hear them in a mys- 
tery, and in order to reduce the number of hearers they 
should sacrifice not a common (Eleusinian) pig, but some 
huge and unprocurable victim. 

Why, yes, said he, those stories are certainly objectionable. 

Yes, Adeimantus, they are stories not to be narrated in 
our State ; the young man should not be told that in com- 
mitting the worst of crimes he is far from doing anything 
outrageous ; and that if he chastises his father when he 
does wrong, in any manner that he likes, he will only be fol- 
lowing the example of the first and greatest among the gods. 

I quite agree with you, he said ; in my opinion those 
stories are not fit to be repeated. 

Neither, if we mean our future guardians to regard the 
habit of quarrelling as dishonourable, should anything be 
said of the wars in heaven, and of the plots and fightings 
of the gods against one another, which are quite untrue. 
Far be it from us to tell them of the battles of the giants, 



Edticational Theory: Philosophical View 141 



and embroider them on garments ; or of all the innumera- 
ble other quarrels of gods and heroes with their friends 
and relations. If they would only believe us we would 
tell them that quarrelling is unholy, and that never up to 
this time has there been any quarrel between citizens ; 
this is what old men and old women should begin by tell- 
ing children, and the same when they grow up. And the 
poets should be required to compose accordingly. But * 
the narrative of Hephaestus binding Here his mother, or 
how on another occasion Zeus sent him flying for taking 
her part when she was being beaten, — such tales must 
not be admitted into our State, whether they are supposed 
to have an allegorical meaning or not. For the young 
man cannot judge what is allegorical and what is literal; 
anything that he receives into his mind at that age is apt to , 
become indelible and unalterable : and therefore the tales 
which they first hear should be models of virtuous thoughts. 

There you are right, he replied ; that is quite essential : 
but, then, where are such models to be found } and what Criticism of 
are the tales in which they are contained } when that ^^^ charac- 
question is asked, what will be our answer .'' 

I said to him. You and I, Adeimantus, are not poets in 
what we are about just now, but founders of a State: now 
the founders of a State ought to know the general forms 
in which poets should cast their tales, and the limits which 
should be observed by them, but actually to make the 
tales is not their business. 

Very true, he said ; but what are these forms of theology 
which you mean .-* 

Something of this kind, I replied: — God is always to 
be represented as he truly is ; that is one form which is 
equally to be observed in every kind of verse, whether 
epic, lyric, or tragic. 

Right. 

And is he not truly good .-* and must he not be repre- 
sented as such .'' 

Certainly. 

And no good thing is hurtful } 

No, indeed. 

And that which is not hurtful hurts not ? 

Certainly not. 



religious 

ideas 

imparted. 



142 Source Book of the History of Education 

And that which hurts not does no evil ? 

No. 

And that which does no evil is the cause of no evil ? 

Impossible. 

And the good is the advantageous ? 

Yes. 

And the good is the cause of well-being .? 

Yes. 

The good is not the cause of all things, but of the good 
only, and not the cause of evil t 

Assuredly. 

Then God, if he be good, is not the author of all things, 
as the many assert, but he is the cause of a few things 
only, and not of most things that occur to men. For few 
are the goods of human Hfe, and many are the evils, and 
the good is to be attributed to God alone ; of the evils the 
cause is to be sought elsewhere, and not in him. 

That appears to me to be most true, he said. 

Then we must not listen to Homer or to any other poet 
who is guilty of the folly of saying that two casks 

' Lie at the threshold of Zeus, full of lots, one of good, the other of evil 
lots,' 

and that he to whom Zeus gives a mixture of the two 

* Sometimes meets with evil fortune, at other times with good ; ' 

but that he to whom is given the cup of unmingled ill 

* Him wild hunger drives over the divine earth.' 

And again : — 

'Zeus, who is the dispenser of good and evil to us.' 

And if any one asserts that the violation of oaths and 
treaties of which Pandarus was the real author, was 
brought about by Athene and Zeus, or that the strife and 
conflict of the gods was instigated by Themis and Zeus, 
he shall not have our approval ; neither will we allow our 
young men to hear the words of ^schylus, that 

*God plants guilt among men when he desires utterly to destroy a 
house.' 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 143 

And if a poet writes of the sufferings of Niobe, which is 
the subject of the tragedy in which these iambic verses 
occur, or of the house of Pelops, or of the Trojan war, or 
any similar theme, either we must not permit him to say that 
these are the works of God, or if they are of God, he must 
devise some explanation of them such as we are seeking : 
he must say that God did what was just and right, and 
they were the better for being punished ; but that those 
who are punished are miserable, and that God is the author 
of their misery — the poet is not to be permitted to say ; 
though he may say that the wicked are miserable because 
they require to be punished, and are benefited by receiving 
punishment from God ; but that God being good is the 
author of evil to any one, is to be strenuously denied, and 
not allowed to be sung or said in any well-ordered com- 
monwealth by old or young. Such a fiction is suicidal, 
ruinous, impious. 

I agree with you, he replied, and am ready to give my 
assent to the law. 

Let this then be one of the rules of recitation and in- 
vention, — that God is not the author of evil, but of good 
only. 

That will do, he said. 

And what do you think of another principle } Shall I 
ask you whether God is a magician, and of a nature to 
appear insidiously now in one shape, and now in another 
— sometimes himself changing and becoming different in 
form, sometimes deceiving us with the semblance of such 
transformations; or is he one and the same immutably 
fixed in his own proper image .'' 

I cannot answer you without more thought. 

Well, I said; but if we suppose a change in anything, 
that change must be effected either by the thing itself, or 
by some other thing } 

That is most certain. 

And things which are at their best are also least hable 
to be altered or discomposed ; for example, when healthiest 
and strongest the human frame is least liable to be affected 
by meats, and drinks and labours, and the plant which is in 
the fullest vigour also suffers least from heat and wind, or 
other similar accidents. 



/ 

144 Source Book of the History of Education 

Of course. 

And this is true of the soul as well as of the body ; the 
bravest and wisest soul will be least confused or deranged 
by any external influence. 

True. 

And further, as I should suppose, the same principle 
applies to all works of art — vessels, houses, garments ; 
and that when well made and in good condition, they are 
least altered by time and circumstances. 

Very true. 

Then everything which is good, whether made by art or 
nature, or both, is liable to receive the least change at the 
hands of others .-' 

True. 

But surely God and the things of God are absolutely 
perfect .■* 

Of course they are. 

He is therefore least likely to take many forms. 

He is. 

But suppose again that he changes and transforms him- 
self.? 

Clearly, he said, that must be the case if he is changed 
at all. 

And will he then change himself for the better, or for 
the worse .-' 

If he change at all he must change for the worse, for 
we cannot suppose that he is deficient in virtue or beauty. 

Very true, Adeimantus ; but then, would any one, 
whether God or man, desire to change for the worse } 

Impossible. 

Then God too cannot be willing to change ; being, as is 
supposed, the fairest and best that is conceivable, every 
God remains absolutely and for ever in his own form. 

That necessarily follows, he said, in my judgment. 

Then, I said, my dear friend, let none of the poets tell 
us that 

' The gods, taking the disguise of strangers, haunt cities in all sorts 
of forms ; ' 

and let no one slander Proteus and Thetis, neither let any 
one, either in tragedy or any other kind of poetry, intro- 



Edtuational Theory: Philosophical View 145 

duce Here disguised in the likeness of a priestess asking 
an alms 

' For the life-giving daughters of the river Inachus ; ' 

let us have no more lies of that sort. Neither must we Condemna- 
have mothers under the influence of the poets scaring their tion of use 
children with abominable tales of certain gods who, as they antHe^'e"-^ 

say : dary tales to 

_,,.,.,,., . , frighten 

* Go about by night in the hkeness of strangers from every land ; ' children. 

let them beware lest they blaspheme against the gods, and 
at the same time make cowards of their children. 

Heaven forbid, he said. 

But although the gods are themselves unchangeable, still 
by witchcraft and deception they may make us think that 
they appear in various forms } 

Suppose that, he replied. 

Well, but can you imagine that God will be wilHng to 
lie, or make a false representation of himself, whether in 
word or deed } 

I cannot say, he replied. 

Do you not know, I said, that the true lie, if I may use 
such an expression, is hated of gods and men } 

What do you mean } he said. 

I mean this, I said, — that no one will admit falsehood 
into that which is the truest and highest part of himself, 
or about the truest and highest matters ; there he is most 
afraid of a lie having possession of him. 

Still, he said, I do not comprehend you. 

The reason is, I replied, that you attribute some grand 
meaning to me ; but I am only saying that deception, or 
being deceived or uninformed about realities in the high- 
est faculty, which is the soul, and in that part of them to 
have and to hold the he, is what mankind least hke ; — 
that, I say, is what they utterly detest. 

There is nothing more hateful to them. 

And, as I was just now remarking, this ignorance in the 
soul of him who is deceived may be called the true he ; for 
the lie in words is only a kind of imitation and shadowy 
image of a previous affection of the soul, not pure unadul- 
terated falsehood. Am I not right ? 



146 Source Book of the History of Education 

Perfectly right. 

The true lie is hated not only by the gods, but also by 
men ? gUl 

Yes. Ti 

Whereas the lie in words is in certain cases useful and 
not hateful ; in deahng with enemies — that would be an 
instance ; or again, as a cure or preventive of the madness 
of those who are called your friends ; also in the tales of 
mythology, of which we were just now speaking — because 
we do not know the truth about ancient traditions, we 
make falsehood as much Hke truth as may be, and so of 
use. 
Misrepre- Very true, he said. 

sentations of j^y^- ^an any of these reasons apply to God } Can we 
God bjTthe suppose that he is ignorant of antiquity, and therefore has 
poets. recourse to invention .'* 

That would be ridiculous, he said. 

Then the lying poet has no place in our idea of God .-^ ^ 

I should say not. fl 

Peradventure again he may tell a lie because he is afraid' 
of enemies .'' 

That is inconceivable. 

But he may have friends who are senseless or mad .'' 

But no mad or senseless person can be a friend of God. 

Then no motive can be imagined why God should lie } 

None. 

Then the superhuman and divine is absolutely incapa- 
ble of falsehood t 

Yes. 

Then is God perfectly simple and true both in deed and 
word ; he changes not ; he deceives not, either by dream 
or waking vision, by sign or word. 

Your words, he answered, are the very expression of my 
own feelings. 

You agree with me, I said, that this is the second type 
or mould in which we are to cast our ideas about divine 
things. The Gods are not magicians who transform them- 
selves, neither do they deceive mankind in word or deed. 

I grant that. 

Then, although we are lovers of Homer, we do not love 
the lying dream which Zeus sends to Agamemnon ; neither 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 147 

will we praise the verses of ^schylus in which Thetis 
says that Apollo at her nuptials 

' Was celebrating in song her fair progeny whose days were to be 
long, and to know no sickness. And in conclusion he raised a note 
of triumph over the blessedness of my lot, and cheered my soul. And 
I thought that the word of Phoebus, being divine and full of prophecy, 
would not fail. And now he himself who uttered the strain, he who 
was present at the banquet, and who said this — he is the very god 
who has slain my son.'' 

These are the kind of sentiments about the gods which 
will arouse our anger ; and he who utters them shall be 
refused a chorus ; neither, shall we allow them to enter into 
education, meaning, as we do, that our guardians, as far as 
men can be, should be true worshippers of the gods and 
like them. 

I entirely agree, he said, in the propriety of these prin- 
ciples, and promise to make them my laws. 

BOOK III 

Such then, I said, are our principles of theology — some Courage or 
tales are to be told, and others are not to be told to our dis- cowardice 
ciples from their youth upwards, if we mean them to honour moted 
the gods and their parents, and to value friendship with one through the 
another. tales of the 

Yes ; and I think that our principles are right, he said. 

But if they are to be courageous, must they not learn, 
besides these, other lessons also, such as will have the 
effect of taking away the fear of death } Can any man be 
courageous who has the fear of death in him } 

Certainly not, he said. 

And can he be fearless of death, or will he choose death 
in battle rather than defeat and slavery, who believes in the 
reality and the terror of the world below .-* 

Impossible. 

Then we must assume a control over this class of tales 
as well as over the others, and beg the relaters of them not 
simply to revile, but rather to commend the world below, 
intimating to them that their descriptions are untrue, and 
will do no good to our future warriors. 

That will be our duty, he said. 



poets. 



148 Source Book of the History of Education 

Then, I said, we shall have to obliterate obnoxious pas- 
sages, beginning with the verse, — 

'I would rather be a serf on the land of a poor portionless man who 
is not well to do, than rule over all the dead who have come to nought.' 

We must also expunge the verse, which tells us how Pluto 
feared, 

* Lest the mansions grim and squalid which the gods abhor should 
be seen both of mortals and immortals.' 

And again : — 

' O heavens ! verily in the house of Hades there is soul and ghostly 
form but no mind ! ' 

Again of Tiresias : — 

'To him alone did Persephone give mind, that he should be wise 
even after death ; but the other souls are flitting shades.' 

Again : — 

* The soul flying from the limbs had gone to Hades, lamenting her 
fate, leaving strength and youth.' 

Again : — 

' And the soul, with shrilling cry, passed like smoke beneath the 
earth.' 

And: — 

' As bats in hollow of mystic cavern, whenever any of them dropped 
out of the string falls from the rock, fly shrilling and hold to one 
another, so did they with shrilling cry hold together as they moved.' 

And we must beg Homer and the other poets not to be 
angry if we strike out these and similar passages, not 
because they are unpoetical, or unattractive to the popular 
ear, but because the greater the charm of them as poetry, 
the less are they meet for the ears of boys and men who 
are to be sons of freedom, and are to fear slavery more 
than death. 

Undoubtedly. 

Also we shall have to reject all the terrible and appalling 
names which describe the world below — Cocytus and Styx, 
ghosts under the earth, and sapless shades, and any simi- 



Educatiojial Theory: Philosophical View 149 



the examples 
of cowardice 
of famous 



lar words of which the very mention causes a shudder to 
pass through the inmost soul of him who hears them. I 
do not say that these horrible stories may not have a use 
of some kind ; but there is a danger that the nerves of our 
guardians may become affected by them. 

We have reason to fear that, he said. 

Then there must be no more of them. 

True. 

Another and a nobler strain will be ours. 

Clearly. 

And shall we proceed to get rid of the weepings and Objection to 
wailings of famous men .-' 

They will go with the others. 

But shall we be right in getting rid of them } Reflect : 
our principle is that the good man will not consider death 
terrible to a good man. 

Yes ; that is our principle. 

And therefore he will not sorrow for his departed friend 
as though he had suffered anything terrible .'' 

He will not. 

Such an one, as we further maintain, is enough for him- 
self and his own happiness, and therefore is least in need 
of other men. 

True, he said. 
. And for this reason the loss of a son or brother, or the 
deprivation of fortune, is to him of all men least terrible. 

Assuredly. 

And therefore he will be least likely to lament, and will 
bear with the greatest equanimity any misfortune of this 
sort which may befall him. 

Yes, he will feel such a misfortune far less than 
another. 

Then we shall be right in getting rid of the lamentations 
of famous men, and making them over to women (and not 
even to women who are good for anything), or to men of 
a baser sort, that those who are being educated by us to 
be the defenders of their country may scorn to do the like. 

That will be very right. 

Then we will once more entreat Homer and the other 
poets not to depict Achilles, who is the son of a goddess, 
first lying on his side, then on his back, and then on his 



150 Source Book of the History of Education 

face; then starting up and sailing in a frenzy along the 
shores of the barren sea ; now taking the dusky ashes in 
both his hands and pouring them over his head, or bewail- 
ing and sorrowing in the various modes which Homer has 
delineated. Nor should he describe Priam the kinsman 
of the gods as praying and beseeching : — 

' Rolling in the dirt, calling each man loudly by his name.' 

and of the Still more earnestly will we beg of him not to introduce 
gods. the gods lamenting and saying : — 

' Alas ! my misery ! Alas ! that I bore the bravest to my sorrow.' 

But if he must introduce the gods, at any rate let him not 
dare so completely to misrepresent the greatest of the 
gods, as to make him say — 

< O heavens ! with my eyes I behold a dear friend of mine driven 
round and round the city, and my heart is sorrowful.' 

Or again : — 

' Woe is me that I am fated to have Sarpedon, dearest of men to 
me, subdued at the hands of Patroclus the son of Mencetius.' 

For if, my sweet Adeimantus, our youth seriously believe 
in such unworthy representations of the gods, instead of 
laughing at them as they ought, hardly will any of them 
deem that he himself, being but a man, can be dishonored 
by similar actions ; neither will he rebuke any incHnation 
which may arise in his mind to say and do the like. And 
instead of having any shame or self-control, he will be 
always whining and lamenting on slight occasions. 
Yes, he said, that is very certain. 

Yes, I replied ; but that is just what ought not to be, as 
the argument proved to us ; and we must abide by our 
conviction until we find a better. 
True. 
Poets often Neither ought our guardians to be given to laughter, 
represent the Yox a fit of laughter which has been indulged to excess 
ampie^s^of ' almost always produces a violent reaction. 

levity and in- So I believe. 

temperance. Then persons of worth, even if only mortal, must not be 



4' 



Educational Theory: PhilosopJiical View 151 

represented as overcome by laughter, and still less must 
such a representation of the gods be allowed. 

Still less of the gods, as you say, he replied. 

Then we shall not suffer such an expression to be used 
about the gods as that in which Homer describes how 

' Inextinguishable laughter arose among the blessed gods, when 
they saw Hephaestus bustling about the mansion.' 

On your views, we must not admit them. 

On my views, if you like to father them on me ; that we 
must not admit them is certain. 

Again, truth should be highly valued ; if, as we were 
saying, a lie is useless to the gods, and useful only as a 
medicine to men, then the use of such medicines should be 
restricted to physicians ; private individuals have no busi- 
ness with them. 

Clearly not, he said. 

Then if any persons are to have the privilege of lying, 
either at home or abroad, they will be the rulers of the 
State ; and they may be allowed to lie for the public good. 
But nobody else is to meddle with anything of the kind ; 
and for a private man to lie in return to the rulers is to be 
deemed a more heinous fault than for the patient or the 
pupil of a gymnasium not to speak the truth about his 
own bodily illnesses to the physician or trainer, or for a 
sailor not to tell the captain truly how matters are going 
on in the ship. 

Most true, he said. 

If, then, the ruler catches anybody beside himself lying 
in the State, 

'Any of the craftsmen, whether he be priest or physician or car- 
penter,' 

he will punish him for introducing a practice which is 
equally subversive of ship or State. 

Yes, he said, if our theory is carried into execution. 

Next, will not our youth require temperance .'' 

Certainly. 

Under temperance, speaking generally, are included 
obedience to commanders and command of self in sensual 
pleasures. 



152 Source Book of the History of Education 

True. 

Then would you praise or blame the injunction of Dio- 
mede in Homer, 

* Friend, sit still and obey my word,' 

and the verses which follow, 

' The Greeks marched breathing prowess, 

. . . in silent awe of their leaders,' 

and other sentiments of the same kind ? 
They are good. 
What again of this line, 

' O heavy with wine, who hast the eyes of a dog and the heart of a 
stag,' 

and of the verses which follow .? Would say that in these, 
or any other impertinent words which private men are 
supposed to address to their rulers, whether in verse or 
prose, are well or ill spoken t 

They are ill spoken. 

They may very possibly afford some amusement, but 
they do not conduce to temperance. And therefore they 
are likely to do harm to our young men — you would agree 
with me in that ? 

Yes. 

And then, again, to make the wisest of men say that 
nothing in his opinion is more glorious than 

'When the tables are full of bread and meat, and the cup-bearer 
carries round wine which he draws from the bowl and pours into the 
cups ; ' 

is this fit or improving for a young man to hear } Or that 
other verse which affirms that 

'The saddest of fates is to die and meet destiny from hunger?' 

What would you say again to the tale of Zeus, who, while 
other gods and men were asleep and he the only person 
awake, lay devising plans, but forgot them all in a moment 
through his lust, and was so completely overcome at the 
sight of Here that he would not even go into the hut, but 
wanted to lie with her on the ground, declaring that he 



Educational Theory: Philosophical Viczu 153 

had never been in such a state of rapture before, even 
when they first met one another without the knowledge 
of their parents ; or that other tale of how Hephaestus, in 
consequence of a similar piece of work, bound Ares and 
Aphrodite ? 

Indeed, he said, I am strongly of opinion that they 
ought not to hear that sort of thing. 

But any deeds of endurance which are done or told by 
famous men, these they ought to see and hear; as, for 
example, what is said in the verses, 

* He beat his breast, and thus reproached his heart. 
Endure, my heart ; far worse hast thou endured! ' 

Certainly, he said. 

In the next place, we must not let them be receivers of 
gifts or lovers of money. 
Certainly not. 
Neither must we sing to them of 

* Gifts persuading gods, and persuading reverend kings.' 

Neither is Phoenix, the tutor of Achilles, to be approved Objection to 
or regarded as having given his pupil good counsel when the examples 
he told him that he should take the gifts of the Greeks andlnso'^-^ 
and assist them ; but that without a gift he should not be lence given 
reconciled to them. Neither will we believe or allow by the poets. 
Achilles himself to have been such a lover of money that 
he took Agamemnon's gifts, or required a price as the 
ransom of the dead. 

Undoubtedly, he said, these are not sentiments which 
ought to be approved. 

Loving Homer as I do, I hardly like to say what I must 
say nevertheless, that in speaking thus of Achilles, or in 
believing these words when spoken of him by others, there 
is downright impiety. As little can I credit the narrative 
of his insolence to Apollo, where he says : — 

' Thou hast wronged me, O far-darter, most abominable of deities. 
Verily I would be even with thee, if I had only the power ; ' 

or his insubordination to the river-god, on whose divinity 
he is ready to la}'^ hands ; or the dedication to the dead 
Patroclus of his own hair, which had been previously dedi- 



154 Source Book of the History of Education 

cated to the other river-god Spercheius ; or his dragging 
Hector round the tomb of Patroclus, and his slaughter of 
the captives at the pyre ; of all this I cannot believe that 
he was guilty, any more than I can allow our citizens to 
believe that he, Cheiron's pupil, the son of a goddess and 
of Peleus who was the gentlest of men and third in de- 
scent from Zeus, was in such rare perturbation of mind as 
to be at one time the slave of two seemingly inconsistent 
passions, meanness, not untainted by avarice, combined 
with overwhelming contempt of gods and men. 

You are quite right, he replied. 

And let us equally refuse to believe, or allow to be re- 
peated, the tale of Theseus son of Poseidon, or of Peri- 
thous son of Zeus, going forth to perpetrate such a horrid 
rape ; or of any other hero or son of a god daring to do 
such impious and horrible things as they falsely ascribe 
to them in our day : and let us compel the poets to declare 
either that these acts were not done by them, or that they 
were not the sons of gods ; — both in the same breath they 
shall not be permitted to affirm. We will not have them 
teaching our youth that the gods are the authors of evil, 
and that heroes are no better than men ; undoubtedly these 
sentiments, as we were saying, are neither pious or true, 
for they are at variance with our demonstration that evil 
cannot come from God. 

Undoubtedly. 

And further they are likely to have a bad effect on 
those who hear them ; for everybody will begin to excuse 
his own vices when he is convinced that similar wicked- 
nesses are always being perpetrated by the kindred of the 
gods, 

' The relatives of Zeus, whose paternal altar is in the heavens and on 
the mount of Ida,' 

and who have 

* The blood of deities yet flowing in their veins.' 

And therefore let us put an end to such tales, lest they 
engender laxity of morals among the young. 
By all means, he replied. 



Educatio7ial Theory: Philosophical View 155 

I will beg you also to recall what I began by saying, Objection to 
that we had done with the subject and might proceed to ^^^ f°'''" °^ 
the style. the poets, 

Yes, I remember. 

In saying this, I meant to imply that we must come to 
an understanding about the mimetic art, — whether the 
poets, in narrating their stories, are to be allowed to imi- 
tate, and if so, whether in whole or in part, and if the lat- 
ter, in what parts ; or should all imitation be prohibited ? 

You mean, I suspect, to ask whether tragedy and 
comedy shall be admitted into our State ? 

Yes, I said ; but there may be more than this in ques- 
tion : I really do not know as yet, but whither the argu- 
ment may blow, thither we go. 

And go we will, he said. 

Then, Adeimantus, let me ask you whether our guardi- 
ans ought to be imitators, or whether in fact this question 
has not been already answered by our previous recognition 
of the principle that one man can only do one thing well, 
and not many ; and that if he attempt many, he will alto- 
gether fail of gaining much reputation in any } 

Certainly. 

And this is equally true of imitation ; no one man can 
imitate many things as well as he would imitate a single 
one .'' 

He cannot. 

Then the same person will hardly be able to play the on the 
serious part of Hfe, and at the same time be an imitator ground that 
and imitate many other parts as well ; for even when two l^nTtation 
species of imitation are nearly allied, the same persons 
cannot succeed in both, as is plain in the case of tragedy 
and comedy — did you not say that they are imitations .-' 

Yes, I did ; and you are right in thinking that the same 
persons cannot succeed in both. 

Any more than they can be rhapsodists and actors at 
once. 

True. 

Neither are actors the same as comic and tragic poets ; 
yet all these are imitations. 

Yes, they are imitations. 

And human nature, Adeimantus, appears to have been 



156 Source Book of the History of Education 



Youths 
should be 
trained to 
imitate the 
true char- 
acter, not 
every phase 
of character 
as does the 
poet. 



coined into yet smaller pieces, and to be as incapable of 
imitating many things well, as of performing well the 
actions of which the imitations are copies. 

Quite true, he replied. 

If then we would retain the notion with which we began, 
that our guardians are to be released from every other art, 
and to be the special artificers of freedom, and to minister 
to this and have no other end, they ought not to practise 
or imitate anything else ; and, if they imitate at all, they 
should imitate from youth upward the characters which 
are suitable to their profession — the temperate, holy, free, 
courageous, and the like ; but they should not depict or be 
skilful at imitating any kind of illiberality or other base- 
ness, lest from imitation they should come to be what they 
imitate. Did you never observe how imitations, beginning 
in early youth, at last sink into the constitution and be- 
come a second nature of body, voice, and mind ? 

Yes, certainly, he said. 

Then, I said, we will not allow those for whom we pro- 
fess a care and desire that they should be good men, to 
imitate a woman, whether young or old, quarrelling with 
her husband, or striving and vaunting against the gods in 
conceit of her happiness, or when she is in affliction, or 
sorrow, or weeping ; and certainly not one who is in sick- 
ness, love, or labour. 

Very right, he said. 

Neither must they represent slaves, male or female, do- 
ing the offices of slaves .'' 

They must not. 

And surely not rogues or cowards, or any who do the 
reverse of what we have prescribed — jesting, scolding, 
reviling, in drink or out of drink ; or otherwise sinning 
against themselves or others in word or deed, as the man- 
ner of such is. Neither should they be trained to imitate 
the action or speech of madmen ; for madness, like vice, is 
to be known only to be avoided. 

Very true, he replied. 

Any more than they may imitate smiths or other artifi- 
cers, or oarsmen, or boatswains, or the like .-' 

Impossible, he said; how can they imitate that with 
which they will have no concern at all .-' 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 157 

And would you have them imitate the neighing of 
horses, the bellowing of bulls, the murmur of rivers and 
roll of the ocean, thunder, and all that sort of thing ? 

Nay, he said, if madness is forbidden, then neither may 
they copy the behaviour of madmen. 

You mean, I said, if I understand you rightly, that there 
is one sort of narration which may be used or spoken by a 
truly good man, and that there is another sort which will 
be exclusively adapted to a man of another character and 
education. 

And which are these two sorts ? he asked. 

Suppose, I answered, that a just and good man in the 
course of narration comes on some saying or action of an- 
other good man, — I should imagine that he will like to 
personate him, and will not be ashamed of this sort of 
imitation : he will be most ready to play the part of the 
good man when he is acting firmly and wisely ; in a less 
degree when his steps falter owing to sickness or love, or 
from intoxication or any other mishap. But when he 
comes to a character which is unworthy of him, he will not 
make a study of that ; he will disdain his inferiors, and 
will wear their likeness, if at all, for a moment only when 
they are doing some good; at other times he will be 
ashamed to play a part which he has never practised, nor 
will he Hke to fashion and frame himself after the baser 
models ; he feels that the serious use of such an art would 
be beneath him, and his mind revolts at it. 

That is what I should expect, he replied. 

Then he will adopt a mode of narration such as we have 
illustrated out of Homer, that is to say, his style will be 
both imitative and narrative ; but there will be very little 
of the former, and a great deal of the latter. Do you 
agree } 

Certainly, he said ; that is the model which such a 
speaker must necessarily take. 

But another sort of character will narrate anything, and, 
the worse he is, the more unscrupulous he will be ; nothing 
will be beneath him : moreover he will be ready to imitate 
anything, not as a joke, but in right good earnest, and before 
a large audience. As I was just now saying, he will attempt 
to represent the roll of thunder, the noise of wind and hail, 



158 Source Book of the History of Education 

or the creaking of wheels, and pulleys, and the various 
sounds of flutes, pipes, trumpets, and all sorts of instru- 
ments : also he will bark hke a dog, bleat like a sheep, 
and crow like a cock ; his entire art will consist in imita- 
tion of voice and gesture, and there will be very little 
narration. 

That, he said, will be his mode of speaking. 

These, then, are the two kinds of style ^ 

Yes. 

And you would agree with me in saying that one of them 
is simple and has but slight changes ; and if the harmony 
and rhythm are also chosen for their simplicity, the result 
is that the speaker, if he speaks correctly, is always pretty 
much the same in style, and keeps within the limits of a 
single harmony (for the changes are not great), and also 
keeps pretty nearly the same rhythm .-* 

That is quite true, he said. 

Whereas the other style requires all sorts of harmonies 
and all sorts of rhythms, if the music is to be expressive 
of the variety and complexity of the words .'' 

That is also perfectly true, he replied. 

And do not ^he two styles, or the mixture of the two, 
comprehend all poetry, and every form of expression in 
words .'' No one can say anything except in one or other 
of them or in both together. 

They include all, he said. 

And shall we receive one or both of the two pure styles ? 
or would you include the mixed .'' 

I should prefer only to admit the pure imitator of virtue. 

Poets to be Yes, I said, Adeimantus ; but the mixed style is also very 

excluded charming and indeed the pantomimic, which is the oppo- 

ideal state. ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^ choscn by you, is the most popular style 

with children and their instructors, and with the world in 

general. 

I do not deny it. 

But I suppose you mean to say that such a style is 
unsuitable to our State, in which human nature is not two- 
fold or manifold, for one man plays one part only ? 

Yes ; quite unsuitable. 

And this is the reason why in our State, and in our 
State only, we shall find a shoemaker to be a shoemaker 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 159 

and not a pilot also, and a husbandman to be a husband- 
man and not a dicast also, and a soldier a soldier and not 
a trader also, and the same of all the other citizens ? 

True, he said. 

And therefore when any one of these clever multiform 
gentlemen, who can imitate anything, comes to us, and 
makes a proposal to exhibit himself and his poetry, we 
will fall down and worship him as a sweet and holy and 
wonderful being ; but we must also inform him that there 
is no place for such as he is in our State, — the law will 
not allow them. And so when we have anointed him with 
myrrh, and set a garland of wool upon his head, we shall 
send him away to another city. For we mean to employ 
for our souls' health the rougher and severer poet or story- 
teller, who will imitate the style of the virtuous only, and 
will follow those models which we prescribed at first when 
we began the education of our soldiers. 

That, he said, we certainly will, if we have the power. 

Then now, my friend, I said, that part of music or liter- 
ary education which relates to the story or myth may be 
considered to be finished ; for the matter and manner have 
both been discussed. 

I think so too, he said. 

Next in order will follow melody and song. Melody and 

That is plain. song from 

Every one can see what we ought to say about them, if ^^^ of music 
we are to be consistent with ourselves. 

I fear, said Glaucon, laughing, that the word ' every 
one ' hardly includes me, for I cannot at the moment say, 
though I may guess. 

At any rate you can tell that a song or ode has three 
parts — the words, the melody, and the rhythm ; — that 
degree of knowledge I may presuppose .-' 

Yes, he said ; so much as that you may. 

And as for the words, there will be no difference between 
words which are and which are not set to music ; both will 
conform to the same laws, and these have been already 
determined by us ? 

Yes. 

Also the melody and rhythm will go with the subject } 

Certainly. 



i6o Source Book of the History of Education 



These to 
conform to 
the same^ 
rules as 
literature. 



And we were saying, as you may remember, in speaking 
the words, that we had no need of lamentation and strains of 
of sorrow ? 

True. 

And which are the harmonies expressive of sorrow } As 
you are a musician, I wish that you would tell me. 

The harmonies which you mean are the mixed or tenor 
Lydian, and the full-toned or bass Lydian, and others 
which are like them. 

These then, I said, must be banished ; even to women 
of virtue and character they are of no use, and much less 
to men. 

Certainly. 

In the next place, drunkenness and softness and indolence 
are utterly at variance with the character of our guardians. 

Of course. 

Then I must ask you again, which are the soft or drink- 
ing harmonies .-' 

The Ionian, he repHed, and the Lydian ; they are termed 
* solute.' 

Well, and are these of any military use } 

Quite the reverse, he replied ; but then the Dorian and 
the Phrygian appear to be the only ones which remain. 

I answered : Of the harmonies I know nothing, but I 
want to have one warlike, which will sound the word or 
note which a brave man utters in the hour of danger and 
stern resolve, or when his cause is failing, and he is going 
to wounds or death or is overtaken by some other evil, and 
at every such crisis meets fortune with calmness and endur- 
ance ; and another to be used by him in times of peace and 
freedom of action, when there is no pressure of necessity, 
and he is seeking to persuade God by prayer, or man by 
instruction and advice ; or on the other hand, which 
expresses his willingness to listen to persuasion or entreaty 
or advice, and which represents him when he has accom- 
plished his aim, not carried away by success, but acting 
moderately and wisely, and acquiescing in the event. 
These two harmonies I ask you to leave ; the strain of 
necessity and the strain of freedom, the strain of the 
unfortunate and the strain of the fortunate, the strain of 
courage, and the strain of temperance ; these, I say, leave. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View i6i 

And these, he replied, are the very ones of which I was Types of 
speaking. """^i*^ 

Then, I said, if only the Dorian and Phrygian harmo- 
nies are used in our songs and melodies, we shall not want 
multiplicity of notes or a panharmonic scale ? 

I suppose not. 

Then we shall not maintain the artificers of lyres with andofin- 
three corners and complex scales, or of any other many- struments 
stringed, curiously-harmonised instruments .-' 

Certainly not. 

But what do you say to flute-makers and flute-players ? 
Would you admit them when you reflect that in this com- 
posite use of harmony the flute is worse than all the stringed 
instruments put together, for even the panharmonic music 
is only an imitation of the flute ? 

Clearly not. , 

There remain then only the lyre and the harp for use in 
the city, and you may have a pipe in the country. 

Yes, certainly ; thus far the argument is clear. 



But shall our superintendence go no further, and are the 
poets only to be required by us to express the image of 
the good in their works as the condition of producing in 
our State.? Or is the same control to be exercised over 
other artists, and are they also to be prohibited from exhib- 
iting the opposite forms of vice and intemperance and 
meanness and indecency in sculpture and building and 
the other creative arts ; and is he who does not conform to 
this rule of ours to be prevented from practising his art in 
our State, lest the taste of our citizens be corrupted by 
him .-* We would not have our guardians grow up amid 
images of moral deformity, as in some noxious pasture, 
and there browse and feed upon many a baneful herb and 
flower day by day, little by little, until they silently gather 
a festering mass of corruption in their own soul. Let our 
artists rather be those who are gifted to discern the true 
nature of beauty and grace ; then will our youth dwell in 
the land of health, amid fair sights and sounds ; and 
beauty, the effluence of fair works, will visit the eye and 
ear, like a healthful breeze from a purer region, and insen- 



Similar con- 
trol over 
other artists 
by the state. 



1 62 Source Book of the History of Education 

sibly draw the soul even in childhood into harmony with 
the beauty of reason. 

There can be no nobler training than that, he replied. 

And therefore, I said, Glaucon, musical training is a 
more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm 
and harmony find their way into the secret places of the 
soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and 
making the soul graceful of him who is rightly educated, 
or ungraceful of him who is ill-educated ; and also because 
he who has received this true education of the inner being 
will most shrewdly perceive omissions or faults in art and 
nature, and with a true taste, while he praises and rejoices 
over and receives into his soul the good, and becomes 
noble and good, he will justly blame and hate the bad, 
now in the days of his youth, even before he is able to 
know the reason why ; and when reason comes he will 
recognise and salute her as a friend with whom his educa- 
tion has made him long familiar. 

Yes, he said, I quite agree with you in thinking that on 
these grounds education should be in music. 

Just as in learning to read, I said, we want to know the 
various letters in all their recurring sizes and combinations ; 
not slighting them as unimportant whether they be large 
or small, but everywhere eager to make them out ; and 
not thinking ourselves perfect in the art until we recognise 
them wherever they are found : 

True — 

Or, as we recognise the reflection of letters in the water, 
or in a mirror, only when we know the letters themselves ; 
the same art giving us the knowledge of both : 

Exactly — 

Even so, as I maintain, neither we nor our guardians, 
whom we have to educate, can ever become musical until 
we and they know the essential forms of temperance, cour- 
age, liberality, magnificence, and their kindred, as well as 
the contrary forms, in all their combinations, and can recog- 
nise them and their images wherever they are found, not 
slighting them either in small things or great, but believing 
them all to be within the sphere of one art and study. 

Most assuredly. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 163 



After music comes gymnastic, in which our youth are 
next to be trained. 

Certainly. 

And gymnastic as well as music should receive careful 
attention in childhood, and continue through life. Now 
my beUef is, — and this is a matter upon which I should 
like to have your opinion, but my own belief is, — not that 
the good body improves the soul, but that the good soul 
improves the body. What do you say .-• 

Yes, I agree. 

Then, if we have educated the mind, the minuter care 
of the body may properly be committed to the mind, and 
we need only describe the outlines of the subject for 
brevity's sake. 

Very good. 

That they must abstain from intoxication has been 
already remarked by us ; for of all persons a guardian 
should be the last to get drunk and not know where in the 
world he is. 

Yes, he said ; that a guardian should require another to 
guard him is ridiculous indeed. 

But next, what shall we say of their food ; for the men 
are athletes in the great contest of all — are they not .'' 

Yes, he said. 

And will the usual gymnastic exercises be suited to them? 

I cannot say. 

I am afraid, I said, that such exercise is but a sleepy 
sort of thing, and rather perilous to health. Do you not 
observe that athletes sleep away their lives, and are liable 
to most dangerous illnesses if they depart, in ever so slight 
a degree, from their customary regimen .-' 

Yes, I do. 

Then, I said, a finer sort of training will be required for 
our warrior athletes, who are to be like wakeful dogs, and 
to see and hear with the utmost keenness ; in the many 
changes of water and also of food, of summer heat and 
winter cold, which they will have to endure, they must not 
be liable to break down in health. 

That is quite my view, he said. 

The really excellent gymnastic is twin sister of that simple 
music which we were just now describing. 



Gymnastic, 
the second 
part of 
education. 



The mind 

educated by 
music may 
direct gym- 
nastic, the 
education of 
the body. 



Gymnastic 
should be of 
a military 
type. 



164 Source Book of the History of Education 



Examination 
of the theory 
that the 
youth should 
experience 
evil in order 
to judge of 
it. 



How so ? 

Why, I conceive that there is a gymnastic also which is 
simple and good ; and that such ought to be the miUtary 

gymnastic. 

All that, Socrates, is excellent ; but I should like to put 
a question to you. Ought there not to be good physicians 
in a State, and are not the best those who have treated the 
greatest number of constitutions good and bad, just as good 
judges are those who are acquainted with all sorts of moral 
natures } 

Yes, I said, I quite agree about the necessity of having 
good judges and good physicians. But do you know whom 
I think good .'' 

Will you inform me } 

Yes, if I can. Let me however note that in the same 
question you join two things which are not the same. 

How so .-' he asked. 

Why, I said, you join physicians and judges. Now skil- 
ful physicians are those who, from their youth upwards, 
have combined with the knowledge of their art the greatest 
experience of disease ; they had better not be robust in 
health, and should have had all manner of diseases in their 
own persons. For the body, as I conceive, is not the in- 
strument with which they cure the body ; in that case we 
would not allow them ever to be sickly ; but they cure the 
body with the mind, and the mind which is or has become 
sick can cure nothing. 

That is very true, he said. 

But with the judge the case is different; he governs 
mind by mind, and he ought not therefore to have been 
reared among vicious minds, and to have associated with 
them from youth upwards, in order that, having gone 
through the whole calendar of crime, he may quickly infer 
the crimes of others like their diseases from the knowledge 
of himself ; but the honourable mind which is to form a 
healthy judgment ought rather to have had no experience 
or contamination of evil habits when young. And this is 
the reason why in youth good men often appear to be 
simple, and are easily practised upon by the evil, because 
they have no examples of what evil is in their own souls. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 165 



Yes, he said, that very often happens with them. 

Therefore, I said, the judge should not be young ; he 
should have learned to know evil, not from his own soul, 
but from late and long observation of the nature of evil in 
others : knowledge, and not his own experience, should be 
his guide. 

Yes, he said, that is the ideal of a judge. 

Yes, I replied, and he will be a good man (which is my 
answer to your question) ; for he is good whose soul is 
good. Whereas your cunning and suspicious character, 
who has committed many crimes, and fancies himself to 
be a master in wickedness, when he is among men who are 
like himself, is wonderful in his precautions against others, 
because he judges of them by himself : but when he gets 
into the company of men of virtue, who have the experi- 
ence of age, he appears to be a fool again, owing to his 
unseasonable suspicion ; he cannot recognise an honest 
man, because he has nothing in himself which will tell 
him what an honest man is like ; at the same time, as the 
bad are more numerous than the good, and he meets with 
them oftener, he thinks himself, and others think him, 
rather wise than foolish. 

Most true, he said. 

Then the good and wise judge whom we are seeking is 
not this man ; the other is better suited to us ; for vice can- 
not know virtue, but a virtuous nature, educated by time, 
will acquire a knowledge both of virtue and vice : the 
virtuous, and not the vicious man has wisdom — in my 
opinion. 

And in mine also. 

This is the sort of medicine, and this is the sort of law, 
which you will sanction in your state. They will minister 
to better natures, giving health both of soul and of body ; 
but the bad nature they will in the case of the body leave 
to die, and the diseased and incurable soul they will put to 
death themselves. 

That is clearly best both for them and for the State. 

And thus our youth, having been educated only in that 
simple music which infuses temperance, will be reluctant 
to go to law. 

Clearly. 



Such 

knowledge 
should be 
gained by 
observing 
the nature 
and results 
of evil in 
others. 



Only the 
virtuous man 
can have 
wisdom. 



Both music 
and g)'m- 
nastic have 
this wisdom 
for their 
end. 






1 66 Source Book of the History of Education 

And in the same way simple gymnastic will incline him 
to have as little as possible to do with medicine. 

That I quite believe. 

The very exercises and toils which he undergoes are in- 
tended to stimulate the spirited elements of his nature, and 
not to increase his strength ; he will not, like common ath- 
letes, use exercise and regimen to develope his muscles. 

Very right, he said. 

Neither are the two arts of music and gymnastic really 
designed, the one for the training of the soul, the other for 
the training of the body. 

But what is the real object ? 

I believe, I said, that the teachers of both have in view 
chiefly the improvement of the soul. 

How can that be .'' he asked. 

Did you never observe, I said, the effect on the mind of 
exclusive devotion to gymnastic, or the opposite effect of 
an exclusive devotion to music .'* 

In what way shown .-' he said. 

In producing a temper of hardness and ferocity, or again 
of softness and effeminacy, I replied. 

Yes, he said, I am quite aware that your mere athlete 
becomes too much of a savage, and that the mere musi- 
cian is melted and softened beyond what is good for him. 

Yet surely, I said, the fierce quality gives spirit, and, if 
educated rightly, will be valiant, but, if exaggerated, is 
likely to become hard and brutal. 

That I quite think. 

The philosopher will have the quality of gentleness. And 
this, when too much indulged, will turn to softness, but, if 
educated rightly, will be gentle and modest. 

True. 

Whereas in our judgment the guardians ought to have 
both these qualities .-* 

Certainly they ought. 

The qualities should be harmonized.^ 

Beyond question. 

And the harmonious soul is both temperate and valiant.' 

Yes. 

And the inharmonious is cowardly and boorish } 

Very true. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 167 



used. 



And, when a man allows music to play and pour over 
his soul through the funnel of his ears those sweet and 
soft and melancholy airs of which we were just now speak- 
ing, and his whole life is passed in warbling and the delights 
of song ; in the first stage of the process the passion or 
spirit which is in him is tempered like iron, and made use- 
ful, instead of brittle and useless. But, if he carries on the 
softening process, in the next stage he begins to melt and 
waste, until he has wasted away his spirit and cut out the 
sinews of his soul ; and he makes a feeble warrior. 

Very true. 

If the element of spirit is naturally weak in him this is Only such 
soon accomplished, but if he have a good deal, then the music and 
power of music weakening the spirit renders him excitable ; ^avg'^a^ ^^ 
— he soon flames up, and is speedily extinguished ; instead temperate 
of having spirit he becomes irritable and violent and very effect to be 
discontented. 

Exactly. 

And so in gymnastics, if a man takes violent exercise 
and is a great feeder, and the reverse of a great student 
of music and philosophy, at first the high condition of his 
body fills him with pride and spirit, and he becomes twice 
the man that he was. 

Certainly. 

But if he do nothing else, and never cultivates the Muses, 
even that intelligence which there may be in him, having 
no taste of any sort of learning or enquiry or thought or 
music, grows feeble and dull and blind, because never 
roused or sustained, and because the senses are not purged 
of their mists. 

True, he said. 

And he ends by becoming a hater of philosophy, uncivil- 
ized, never using weapon of persuasion, — he is like a wild 
beast, all violence and fierceness, and knows no other way 
of deahng ; and he lives in all ignorance and evil conditions, 
and has no sense of propriety and grace. 

That is quite true, he said. 

And as there are two principles of human nature, one 
the spirited and the other the philosophical, some God, as 
I should say, has given mankind two arts answering to 
them (and only indirectly to the soul and body), in order 



1 68 Source Book of the History of Education 



Further 
details of 
education 
follow the 
same 
principles. 



that these two principles may be duly attuned and har- 
monised with one another. 

That I am disposed to believe. 

And he who mingles music with gymnastic in the fair- 
est proportions, and best attempers them to the soul, may 
be called the true musician and harmonist in a far higher 
sense than the tuner of the strings. 

I dare say, Socrates. 

And such a presiding genius will be always .required in 
our State if the government is to last. 

Yes, he will be absolutely necessary. 

Such, then, are our principles of nurture and education. 
There would be no use in going into further details about 
their dances, their hunting or chasing with dogs, their 
gymnastic and equestrian contests ; for these all follow 
the general principle, and having found that, we shall 
have no difficulty in discovering them. 



Supreme 
importance 
of education. 



BOOK IV 

It Us it * * * * 

These things, my good Adeimantus, are not, as might be 
supposed, a number of great principles, but trifles all, if 
care be taken, as the saying is, of the one great thing, — 
a thing, however, which I would rather call not great, but 
enough for our purpose. 

What may that be .-* he asked. 

Education, I said, and nurture. For if our citizens are 
well educated, and grow into sensible men, they will easily 
see their way through all these, as well as other matters 
which I do not mention ; such, for example, as marriage, 
the possession of women and the procreation of children, 
which will all follow the general principle that friends have 
all things in common, as the proverb says. 

That will be the best way of settling them. 

Also, I said, the State, if once started well, goes on with 
accumulating force like a wheel. For good nurture and 
education implant good constitutions, and these good con- 
stitutions having their roots in a good education improve 



Educatio7ial Theory: Philosophical View 169 

more and more, and this improvement affects the breed in 
man as in other animals. 

True, he said. 

Then to sum up : This is the point to which, above all, No 
the attention of our rulers should be directed, — that music innovations 
and gymnastic be preserved in their original form, and no ^^'^'^^ ^ ' 
innovation made. They must do their utmost to maintain 
this. And when any one says that mankind most regard 

' The song which is the newest that the singers have,' 

they will be afraid that he may be praising, not new songs, 
but a new kind of song ; and this ought not to be praised, 
nor is this to be regarded as the meaning of the poet ; for 
any musical innovation is full of danger to the State, and 
ought to be prevented. So Damon tells me, and I can quite 
believe him ; — he says that when modes of music change, 
the fundamental laws of the State always change with them. 

Yes, said Adeimantus ; and you may add my suffrage to 
Damon's and your own. 

Then, I said, our guardians must lay the foundations of 
their fortress in music .■' 

Yes, he said ; and the licence of which you speak very 
easily creeps in. 

Yes, I replied, in the form of amusement ; and at first 
sight appears harmless. 

Why, yes, he said, and there is no harm ; were it not 
that little by little the spirit of Hcence, finding a home, 
penetrates into manners and customs ; whence, issuing 
with greater force, it invades agreements between man 
and man, and from agreements goes on to laws and con- 
stitutions, in utter recklessness, and ends, Socrates, by an 
overthrow of all things, private as well as public. 

Is that true ? I said. 

That is my belief, he replied. 

Then, as I was saying, our youth should be educated in Importance 
a stricter rule from the first, for if education becomes law- o'^th^ 
less, and the youths themselves become lawless, they stTgeYof 
can never grow up into well-conducted and meritorious education. 
citizens. 

Very true, he said. 

And the education must begin with their plays. The 



170 Source Book of the History of Education 



Rigid laws 
concerning 
education 
obviate the 
necessity for 
detailed 
regulations 
in other 
respects. 



spirit of law must be imparted to them in music, and the 
spirit of order, attending them in all their actions, will make 
them grow ; and if there be any part of the State which 
has fallen down, will raise it up again. 

Very true, he said. 

Thus educated, they will have no difficulty in rediscover- 
ing any lesser matters which have been neglected by their 
predecessors. 

What do you mean } 

I mean such things as these : — when the young are to 
be silent before their elders ; how they are to show respect 
to them by sitting down and rising up ; what honour is 
due to parents ; what garments or shoes are to be worn ; 
the mode of dressing the hair ; deportment and manners 
in general. You would agree with me } 

Yes. 

You would think, as I do, that there is small wisdom in 
legislating about such matters, — I doubt if it is ever done; 
nor are any precise verbal enactments about them likely to 
be lasting. 

Impossible. 

We may assume, Adeimantus, that the direction in which 
education starts a man will determine his future life. 
Does not like always attract like .■' 

To be sure. 

Until he reaches some one rare and grand result, which 
may be good, and may be the reverse of good. 

That is not to be denied. 

And for this reason, I said, I shall not attempt to legis- 
late further about them. 

Naturally enough, he replied. 

Well, and about the business of the agora, and the ordi- 
nary dealings between man and man, or again about agree- 
ments with artisans ; about insult and injury, or the order 
in which causes are to be tried, and the appointment of 
juries, what would you say .■' there may be also questions 
about any impositions and exactions of market and harbour 
dues which may be required, and in general about the 
regulations of markets, police, harbours, and the Hke. But, 
oh heavens ! shall we condescend to legislate on any of 
these particulars 1 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 171 

I think, he said, that there is no need to impose laws 
about them on good men ; what regulations are necessary 
they will find out soon enough for themselves. 

Yes, I said, my friend, if God will only guard the laws 
which we have given them. 

And without divine help, said Adeimantus, they will go 
on forever making and mending their laws and their lives 
in the hope of attaining perfection. 

You would compare them, I said, to those invalids who, 
having no self-restraint, will not leave off their habits of 
intemperance } 

Exactly. 

Yes, I said ; and what a delightful life they lead ! they 
are always doctoring and increasing and complicating their 
disorders, and always fancying that they will be cured by 
some nostrum which somebody advises them to try. 

That is often the case, he said, with invalids such as you 
describe. 

Yes, I replied ; and the charming thing is that they deem 
him their worst enemy who tells them the truth, which is 
simply that, unless they give up eating and drinking and 
lusting and sleeping, neither drug nor cautery nor spell nor 
amulet nor any other remedy will avail. 

Charming ! he replied. I see nothing charming in 
going into a passion with a man who tells you what is 
good. 

These gentlemen, I said, do not seem to be in your good 
graces. 

Assuredly not. 

Nor would a State which acts like them stand high in 
your estimation. And do not States act like them, which 
are ill governed } For they begin by proclaiming to their 
citizens that no one, under penalty of death, shall alter the 
constitution of the State ; and at the same time, he who 
conforms to their politics and most sweetly serves them, 
who indulges them and fawns upon them and has a pre- 
sentiment of their wishes, and is skilful in gratifying them, 
he is deemed to be their good man, and the wise and 
mighty one who is to be held in honour by them } 

Yes, he said ; the States are as bad as the men ; and I 
am far from approving of them. 



172 Source Book of the History of Education 

But do you not admire, I said, the coolness and dexterity 
of these ready ministers of political corruption ? 

Yes, he said, I do ; but not of all of them, for there are 
some whom the applause of the multitude has deluded into 
the belief that they are really statesmen, and they are not 
much to be admired. 

What do you mean ? I said ; you should have more 
feeling for them. When a man cannot measure, and a 
great many others who cannot measure declare that he is 
four cubits high, can he help believing what they say 1 

He cannot. 

Well, then, do not be angry with them ; for are they not 
as good as a play, trying their hand at legislation, and 
always fancying that by reforming they will make an end 
of frauds between man and man, and the other rascalities 
which I was mentioning, not knowing that they are in 
reality cutting away the heads of a hydra ? 

Yes, he said ; that is just what they are doing. 

I conceive, I said, that the true legislator will not trouble 
himself with enactments of this sort in an ill-ordered any 
more than in a well-ordered State ; for in the former they 
are useless, and in the latter there will be no difficulty in 
inventing them, and many of them will naturally flow out 
of our previous regulations. 

What, then, he said, is still remaining to us of the work 
of legislation } 
Religious Nothing to us, I replied ; but to Apollo, the god of 

sanction Delphi, there remains the ordering of the greatest and 
essen la , noblest and chiefest of all. 

What is that .-• he said. 

The institution of temples and sacrifices, and in general 
the service of gods, demigods, and heroes ; also the order- 
ing of the repositories of the dead, and the rites which 
have to be observed in order to propitiate the inhabitants 
of the world below. For these are matters of which we 
are ignorant, and as founders of a city we should be unwise 
in trusting them to any interpreter but our ancestral deity. 
• He is the god who sits in the centre, on the navel of the 
earth, and he is the interpreter of religion to all mankind. 

You are right, and we will do as you propose. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 173 



BOOK V 



Let us proceed now to give the women a similar training 
and education, and see how far that accords with our 
design. 

What do you mean ? 

What I mean may be put into the form of a question, I 
said : Do we divide dogs into hes and shes, and take the 
mascuhne gender out to hunt, or have them to keep watch 
and ward over the flock, while we leave the females at 
home, under the idea that the bearing and suckling their 
puppies hinder them from sharing in the labours of the 
males ? 

No, he said, they share alike ; the difference between 
them is in degrees of strength. 

But can you use different animals for the same purpose, 
unless they are bred and fed in the same way ? 

You cannot. 

Then, if women are to have the same duties as men, they 
must have the same education .-' 
• Yes. 

The education which was assigned to the men was music 
and gymnastic. 

Yes. 

Then women must be taught music and gymnastic and 
also the art of war, which they must practise like the men } 

That is the inference, I suppose. 

I should rather expect, I said, that several of our pro- 
posals, if they are carried out, being unusual, may appear 
ridiculous. 

No doubt of it. 

Yes, and the most ridiculous thing of all will be the 
sight of women naked in the palaestra, exercising with the 
men, especially when they get old ; they certainly will not 
be a vision of beauty, any more than the wrinkled old men 
who have anything but an agreeable appearance when they 
take to gymnastics — this, however, does not deter them. 

Yes, indeed ; he said : according to present notions the 
proposal would appear ridiculous. 

But then, I said, as we have determined to speak our 



The 

education of 
women 



to be similar 
to that of 
men. 



174 Source Book of the History of Education 



Explanation 
of the diffi- 
culties to be 
encountered. 



Argument of 
the question 
whether 
woman has 
the same 
nature as 
man, 



minds, we must not fear the jests of the wits which will be 
directed against this sort of innovation ; how they will talk 
of women's attainments in music as well as in gymnastic, 
and above all about their wearing armour and riding upon 
horseback ! 

Very true, he rephed. 

Yet having begun we must go on and attack the diffi- 
culty ; at the same time begging of these gentlemen for 
once in their life to be serious. Not long ago, as we shall 
remind them, the Greeks were of the opinion, which is still 
generally received among the barbarians, that the sight of 
a naked man was ridiculous and improper ; and when first 
the Cretans and then the Lacedaemonians introduced naked 
exercises, the wits of that day might have ridiculed them 
equally. 

No doubt. 

But when experience showed that to let all things be 
uncovered was far better than to cover them up, and the 
ludicrous effect to the outward eye vanished before the 
approval of reason, then the man was seen to be a fool 
who laughs or directs the shafts of his ridicule at any 
other sight but that of folly and vice, or seriously inclines 
to measure the beautiful by any other standard but that 
of the good. 

Very true, he replied. 

First, then, whether the question is to be put in jest or 
in earnest, let us ask about the nature of woman : Is she 
capable of sharing either wholly or partially in the actions 
of men, or not at all .■' And is the art of war one of those 
arts in which she can or cannot share } That will be the 
best way of commencing the enquiry, and viH probably lead 
to the fairest conclusion. 

That will be best. 

Suppose that we take the other side and begin by argu- 
ing against ourselves, and so the adversary's position will 
be fairly defended. 

Why not } he said. _ 

Then let us put a speech into the mouths of our oppo- 
nents. They will say : ' Socrates and Glaucon, no adversary 
need convict you, for you yourselves, at the first founda- 
tion of the State, admitted the principle that every one 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 175 

was to do his own work according to his nature.' And 
certainly, if I am not mistaken there was such an admis- 
sion made by us. Then he will proceed to say : ' Is there 
not the greatest difference between the natures of men and 
women .-' ' And we shall reply : Of course, there is. And 
he will ask ' whether men and women ought not to have 
different tasks imposed upon them, such as are agreeable 
to their different natures .'' ' Certainly they ought. ' Have 
you not then fallen into a great inconsistency in saying that 
men and women, who are entirely different, ought to per- 
form the same actions .'' ' — What defence will you make 
for us, my good Sir, against any one who offers these 
objections } 

That is not an easy question to answer when asked sud- 
denly ; and I shall and I do beg of you to draw out the 
case on our side. 

There, Glaucon, is the difficulty which made me unwill- 
ing to take in hand any law about women and children ; 
and this is not the only difficulty. 

Why yes, he said, there is something of a difficulty. 

Yes, I said, but the fact is that when a man is out of his 
depth, whether he has fallen into a swimming bath or into 
the ocean, he has to swim all the same. 

Very true. 

And must not we swim and make for some haven, in the 
hope that Arion's dolphin or some other miraculous help 
may save us .■* 

I suppose so, he said. 

Well then, let us see if we can discover any way of 
escape. Our principle was that different natures ought 
to have different pursuits, and that men's and women's 
natures are different. And now what are we saying } — 
that different natures ought to have the same pursuits, — 
this is the inconsistency which is charged upon us. 

Precisely. 

Verily, Glaucon, I said, glorious is the power of the art 
of contradiction. 

Why do you say so ? 

Because I think that many a man falls into the practice 
against his will. When he thinks that he is reasoning he is 
really disputing, just because he cannot define and divide, 



176 Source Book of the History of Education 

and so know that of which he is speaking ; and he will 
pursue a merely verbal opposition in the spirit of conten- 
tion and not of fair discussion. 

Yes, he replied, such is very often the case ; but what 
has that to do with us and our argument ? 

A great deal ; for there is certainly a danger of our get- 
ting unintentionally into a verbal opposition. 

In what way ? 

Why we valiantly and pugnaciously insist upon the verbal 
truth, that different natures ought to have different pur- 
suits, but we never considered at all what was the meaning 
of sameness or difference of nature, or why we distin- 
guished them when we assigned different pursuits to dif- 
ferent natures. 

Why, no, he said, that was never considered by us. 

I said : Suppose that by way of illustration we were to 
ask the question whether there is not an opposition in 
nature between bald men and hairy men ; and if there is, 
then, if bald men are cobblers, forbid the hairy men, or if 
the hairy men are cobblers, then forbid the bald men to be 
cobblers. 

That would be a jest, he said.* 

Yes, I said, a jest; and why } because we never meant 
when we constructed the State, that the opposition of 
natures should extend to every difference, but only to 
those differences which affected the pursuit in which the 
individual is engaged ; we should have said, for example, 
that a man and a woman when they both have the soul of 
a physician may be said to have the same nature. 

True. 

Whereas the physician and the carpenter are different .? 

Certainly. 

And if, I said, the male and female sex appear to differ 
in their fitness for any art or pursuit, we should say that 
such pursuit or art ought to be assigned to one or the other 
settled in of them ; but if the difference consists only in women 
the affirma- bearing and men begetting children, this does not amount 
to a proof that a woman differs from a man in that respect 
of which we are speaking ; and we shall therefore continue 
to maintain that our guardians and their wives ought to 
have the same pursuits. 



tive, 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 177 



Very true, he said. 

The next step will be to desire our opponent to show 
how, in reference to any of the pursuits or arts of citizens, 
the nature of a woman differs from that of a man ? 

That will be fair. 

And perhaps he, like yourself, will reply that to give an 
answer on the instant is not easy ; a little reflection is 
needed. 

Yes, perhaps. 

Suppose then that we invite him to come along with us 
in the argument, and then we may hope to show him that 
there is no special function which a woman has in the 
administration of the State. 

By all means. 

Let us say to him : Come now, and we will ask you a 
question: — when you said that one man has natural gifts 
and another not, was this your meaning .'' — that the for- 
mer will acquire a thing easily which the latter will have a 
difficulty in acquiring ; a little learning will lead the one to 
discover a great deal ; whereas the other, after a great deal 
of learning and application, will only forget what he has 
learned ; or again, you may mean, that the one has a body 
which is a good, servant to his mind, while the body of the 
other is at war with his mind ; — would these be the sort 
of differences which distinguish the man of capacity from 
the man who is wanting in capacity .'' 

The existence of such differences, he said, will be uni- 
versally allowed. 

Can you mention any pursuit of man in which the male 
sex has not all these qualities in a far higher degree than 
the female } Need I waste time in speaking of the art of 
weaving, and the management of pancakes and preserves, 
in which womankind does really appear to be great, and 
in which for her to be beaten is the most absurd of all 
things .'' 

You are quite right, he replied, in maintaining the gen- 
eral inferiority of the female sex ; at the same time many 
women are in many things superior to many men, though, 
speaking generally, what you say is true. 

And so, I said, my friend, in the administration of a 
State neither a woman as a woman, nor a man as a man 



Women 
possess the 
same char- 
acteristics, 
only in an 
inferior 
degree. 



178 Source Book of the History of Education 

has any special function, but the gifts of nature are equally- 
diffused in both sexes ; all the pursuits of men are the 
pursuits of women also, and in all of them a woman is 
only a weaker man. 

Very true. 

Then are we to impose all our enactments on men and 
none of them on women } 

That will never do. 

One woman has a gift of healing, another not ; one is 
a musician, and another is not a musician } 

Very true. 

And one woman has a turn for gymnastic and military 
exercises, and another is unwarHke and hates gymnastics ? 

Beyond question. 

And one woman is a philosopher, and another is an 
enemy of philosophy ; one has spirit, and another is with- 
out spirit } 

That is also true. 

Then one woman will have the temper of a guardian, 
and another not; for was not the selection of the male 
guardians determined by these sort of differences .'' 

Very true. 

Then the woman has equally with the man the qualities 
which make a guardian ; she differs only in degrees of 
strength } 

Obviously. 
Education of And those women who have such qualities are to be 
women to be selected as the companions and colleagues of our guar- 
settled on djans, sincc they resemble them in ability and character "i 

the same ' ■' •' 

general Very true. 

principles as And being of the same nature with them, ought they 
that of men, j^^^. ^^ have the same pursuits .■* 
They ought. 

Then, as we were saying before, there is nothing un- 
natural in assigning music and gymnastic to the wives of 
the guardians : to that point we come round again. 
Very good. 

The law which thus enacted, instead of being an im- 
possibility or mere aspiration, was agreeable to nature, 
and the contrary practice, which prevails at present, is in 
reality a violation of nature. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 179 

That appears to be true. 

There was, first, the possibihty, and secondly, the advan- 
tage of our proposed arrangement, which had to be 
considered ? 

Yes. 

And the possibility has been allowed } 

Yes. 

The very great advantage has next to be acknowledged } 

Clearly. 

You will admit that the same education which makes a 
man a good guardian will make a woman a good guardian; 
for their original nature is the same } 

Yes. 

I should like to ask you a question : Would you say 
that all men are equal in excellence, or is one man better 
than another .-* 

The latter. 

And in our imaginary commonwealth which do you 
reckon the better, the guardians who have been brought 
up on our model system or the cobblers whose education 
has been cobbling } 

What a ridiculous question ! 

You have answered me, I replied. Well, and may we not 
further say that our guardians are the best of our citizens } 

Far the best. 

And will not their wives be the best women } 

Yes, again I say the very best. and to in- 

And can there be anything better for the interests of elude the 
the State than that the men and women of a State should f^^;^, 
be as good as possible } 

There can be nothing better. 

And our course of music and gymnastic will accomplish 
this } 

Certainly. 

Then we have made an enactment not only possible but 
in the highest degree advantageous to the State .•" 

True. 

Then you must not insist on my proving that the actual 
State will in every respect coincide with the ideal : if we 
are only able to discover how a city may be governed 



subjects. 



i8o Source Book of the History of Education 

nearly as we proposed, you will admit that we have dis- 
covered the possibility which you demand ; and will be 
contented. I am sure that I should be contented — will 
not you ? 
Yes, I will. 

Then let me next endeavour to show what is that fault in • 
States which is the cause of their present maladministra- 
tion, and what is the least change which will enable a State 
to pass into the truer form ; and let the change, if possible, 
be of one thing only, or, if not, of two ; at any rate, let the 
changes be as few and slight as possible. 
Certainly, he replied. 

I think then, I said, that there might be a revolution if 
there were just one change, which is not a slight or easy 
though still a possible one. 
What is it } he said. 

Now then, I said, I go to meet that which I liken to the 

greatest of waves, yet shall the word be spoken, even 

though the overflowing of the laughing wave shall drown 

me in laughter and dishonour ; and do you attend to me. 

Proceed. 

The ideal I said : Until, then, philosophers are kings, or the kings 

state is to be a,nd princcs of this world have the spirit and power of 

education ^ philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in 

such as out- one, and those commoner natures who folloAv either to the 

lined for the exclusion of the Other are compelled to stand aside, cities 

class ^^° ^'"^ never cease from ill — no, nor the human race, as I 

believe — and then only will our State have a possibility of 

life and behold the light of day. This was the thought, 

my dear Glaucon, which I was wanting to utter if it had 

not seemed too extravagant ; for to be convinced that in 

no other state can there be private or public happiness is 

indeed a hard thing. 

Socrates, what do you mean .'' I would have you con- 
sider that the word which you have spoken, is one at which 
numerous persons, and very respectable persons too, pull- 
ing off their coat in a moment, and seizing any weapon 
that comes to hand, will run at you might and main, intend- 
ing to do heaven knows what ; and if you don't prepare an 
answer, and put yourself in motion, you will be ' pared by 
their fine wits,' and no mistake. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View i8i 



You got me into the scrape, I said. 

And I was quite right ; however, I will do all I can to 
get you out ; but I can only give you wishes and exhorta- 
tions, and also, perhaps, I may be able to fit answers to 
your questions better than another — that is all. And now, 
having such an auxiliary, you must do your best to show 
the unbelievers that you are right. 

I ought to try, I said, since you offer me such valuable 
assistance. And I think that, if there is to be a chance of 
our escaping, we must define who these philosophers are 
who, as we say, are to rule in the State ; then we shall be 
able to defend ourselves : There will be discovered to be 
some natures who ought to rule and to study philosophy ; 
and others who are not born to be philosophers, and are 
meant to be followers rather than leaders. 

Then now for a definition, he said. 

Follow me, I said, and I hope that I may somehow or 
other be able to give you a satisfactory explanation. 

Proceed. 

I dare say that you remember, and therefore I need not 
remind you, that a lover, if he is worthy of the name, ought 
to show his love, not to some one part of that which he 
loves, but to the whole. 

I believe that I must ask you to explain, for I really do 
not understand. 

Another, I replied, might fairly answer thus ; but a man 
of pleasure like you ought to know that all who are in the 
flower of their youth do somehow or other raise a pang or 
emotion in a lover's breast, and are thought by him to be 
worthy of his affectionate regards. Is not this a way which 
you have with the fair : one has a snub nose, and you 
praise his pleasant face ; another's beak, as you say, has a 
royal look ; while he who is neither snub nor hooked has 
the grace' of regularity : the dark visage is manly, and the 
fair are angels; and as to the sweet 'honey-pale,' as they 
are called, what is the very name but the invention of a 
lover who uses these pet names, and is not averse to pale- 
ness on the cheek of youth .-* In a word, there is no excuse 
which you will not make, and nothing which you will not 
say, in order to preserve for your use every flower that has 
the bloom of youth. 



Character of 
the philoso- 
pher, the 
ideal of this 
education. 



1 82 Source Book of the History of Education 

If you will make me an authority in matters of love, for 
the sake of the argument, I assent. 

And what do you say of lovers of wine ? Do you not 
see them doing the same ? They are glad of any pretext 
of drinking any wine. 

Very good. 

And the same is true of ambitious men ; if they cannot 
be generals, they are willing to be captains ; and if they 
cannot be honoured by really great and important persons, 
they are glad to be honoured by inferior people, — but 
honour of some kind they must have. 

Exactly. 

Once more let me ask : Does he who desires any class 
of goods, desire the whole class or a part only ? 

The whole. 

And may we not say of the philosopher that he is a 
lover, not of a part of wisdom only, but of the whole ? 

True. 

Then he who dislikes knowledge, especially in youth, 
when he has no power of judging what is good and what 
is not, such an one we maintain not to be a philosopher or 
a lover of knowledge, just as he who refuses his food is 
not hungry, and may be said to have a bad appetite and 
not a good one .'' 

There we are right, he said. 

Whereas he who has a taste for every sort of knowledge 
and who is curious to learn and is never satisfied, may be 
justly termed a philosopher.'' Am I not right .-' 

Glaucon said : If curiosity makes a philosopher, you will 
find many a strange being claiming the name. For all the 
lovers of sights have a delight in learning, and will there- 
fore have to be included. Musical amateurs, too, are a 
folk wonderfully out of place among philosophers, for they 
are the last persons in the world who would come to any- 
thing like a philosophical discussion, if they could help, 
while they run about at the Dionysiac festivals as if they had 
let out their ears to hear every chorus ; whether the per- 
formance is in town or country — that makes no difference 
— they are there. Now are we to maintain that all these 
and any who have similar tastes, as well as the professors 
of minor arts, are philosophers } 



Educationdl Theory: Philosophical View 183 

Certainly not, I replied, they are only an imitation. 

He said : But who are the true philosophers ? 

Those, I said, who are lovers of the vision of truth. and of 

That is also good, he said ; but I should like to know t'^^^h. 
what you mean .-' 

To another, I replied, I might have a difficulty in 
explaining ; but I am sure that you will admit a proposi- 
tion which I am about to make. 

What proposition } 

That since beauty is the opposite of ugliness, they are 
two .'' 

Certainly. 

And inasmuch as they are two, each of them is one ? 

True again. 

And of just and unjust, good and evil, and of every other 
class, the same remark holds : taken singly, each of them 
is one ; but from the various combinations of them with 
things and persons and with one another, they are seen in 
various lights and appear many } 

Very true. 

And this is the distinction which I draw between the 
sight-loving, art-loving, busy class and those of whom I 
am speaking, and who are alone worthy of the name of 
philosophers. 

How do you distinguish them } he said. 

The lovers of sounds and sights, I replied, are, as I con- 
ceive, fond of fine tones and colours and forms and all the 
artificial products that are made out of them, but their 
mind is incapable of seeing or loving absolute beauty. 

True, he replied. 

Few are they who are able to attain the sight of this. 

Very true. 

And he who, having a sense of beautiful things has no 
sense of absolute beauty, or who, if another lead him to a 
knowledge of that beauty is unable to follow — of such an 
one I ask. Is he awake or in a dream only .-' Reflect : is 
not the dreamer, sleeping or waking, one who puts the 
resemblance in the place of the real object .-" 

I should certainly say that such an one was dreaming. 

But take the case of the other, who recognises the exist- 
ence of absolute beauty and is able to distinguish the idea 



184 Source Book of the History of Education 

He is the from the objects which participate in the idea, neither put- 
one who can i-jng thg objects in the place of the idea nor the idea in the 
the 'object^ place of the objects — is he a dreamer, or is he awake? 
and the idea, He is wide awake. 

And may we not say that the mind of the one has knowl- 
edge and that the mind of the other has opinion only ? 

Certainly. 

But suppose that the latter quarrels with us and disputes 
our statement, can we administer any soothing cordial or 
advice to him, without reveahng to him that there is sad 
disorder in his wits .-' 

Good advice is what he certainly wants, he replied. 

Come, then, and let us think of something to tell him. 
Suppose we begin by assuring him that he is welcome to 
any knowledge he may have, and that we are rejoiced at 
his having any. But we should like to ask him a question : 
Does he who has knowledge know something or nothing } 
(You must answer for him.) 

I answer that he knows something. 

Something that is or is not .'' 

Something that is ; for how can that which is not ever 
be known .'' 

And are we assured, after looking at the matter in every 
point of view, that absolute being is or may be absolutely 
known, but that not-being is utterly unknown and unknow- 
able .? 

Nothing can be more certain. 

Good. But if there be anything which is of such a 
nature as to be and not to be, that will have a place inter- 
mediate between pure being and the absolute negation of 
being } 

Yes, between them. 

And, as knowledge corresponded to being and ignorance 
to not-being, for that intermediate between being and not- 
being there has to be discovered a. corresponding inter- 
mediate between ignorance and knowledge, if there be such .'' 

Certainly. 

Do we admit the existence of opinion } 

Undoubtedly. 

As being the same with knowledge, or another faculty } 

Another faculty. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 185 

Then opinion and knowledge have to do with different Discussion 
kinds of matter corresponding to this difference of faculties ? concerning 

Vpq '^^^ relation 

•^ '^^^ . . . ofknowl- 

And knowledge is relative to being and knows being, edge and 
But before I proceed I will make a division, opinion. 

What division } 

I will begin by placing faculties in a class by themselves: 
they are powers in us, and in all other things, by which we 
do as we do. Sight and hearing, for example, I should call 
faculties. Have I clearly explained the class which I mean.'' 

Yes, I quite understand. 

Then let me tell you my view about them. I do not see 
them, and therefore the distinctions of figure, color, and 
the like, which enable me to discern the differences of some 
things, do not apply to them. In speaking of a faculty I 
think only of the end and the operation ; and that which 
has the same end and the same operation I call the same 
faculty, but that which has another end and another oper- 
ation I call different. Would that be your way of speaking? 

Yes. 

To return. Would you place knowledge among faculties, 
or in some other class t 

Certainly knowledge is a faculty, and the most powerful 
of all faculties. 

And is opinion also a faculty .'' 

Certainly, he said ; for opinion is that with which we are 
able to form an opinion. 

And yet you were surely admitting a little while ago 
that knowledge isnot the same as opinion } 

Why, yes, said he ; for how can any reasonable being 
ever identify that which is infallible with that which errs ? 

That is very good, I said, and clearly shows that we are 
conscious of a distinction between them .'* 

Yes. 

Then knowledge and opinion having distinct powers have 
also distinct ends or subject-matters .-* 

That is certain. 

Being is the end or subject-matter of knowledge, and 
knowledge is the knowledge of being .-' 

Yes. 

And opinion is to have an opinion .? 



1 86 Source Book of the History of Education 

Yes. 

And is the subject-matter of opinion the same as the 
subject-matter of knowledge? 

Nay, he replied, that is already disproven ; if difference 
in faculty implies difference in the end or subject-matter, 
and opinion and knowledge are distinct faculties, the sub- 
ject-matter of knowledge cannot be the same as the subject- 
matter of opinion. 

Then if being is the subject-matter of knowledge, some- 
thing else must be the subject-matter of opinion? 

Yes, something else. 

Well then, is not-being the subject-matter of opinion ? 
or, rather, how can there be an opinion at all about not- 
being ? Reflect : when a man has an opinion, has he not 
an opinion about something ? Can he have an opinion 
which is an opinion about nothing ? 

Impossible. 

He who has an opinion has an opinion about some one 
thing ? 

Yes. 

And not-being is not one thing but, properly speaking, 
nothing ? 

True. 

Of not-being, ignorance was assumed to be the necessary 
correlative ; of being, knowledge ? 

True, he said. 

Then opinion is not concerned either with being or with 
not-being ? 

Not with either. 

And can therefore neither be ignorance nor knowledge ? 

That seems to be true. 

Then is opinion to be sought without and beyond either 
of them, in a greater clearness than knowledge, or in a 
greater darkness than ignorance ? 

Neither. 

Then I suppose that opinion appears to you darker than 
knowledge, but lighter than ignorance ? 

Both ; and in no small degree. 

And also to be within and between them ? 

Yes. 

Then you would infer that opinion is intermediate ? 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 187 

No question. 

But were we not saying before, that if anything appeared 
to be of a sort which is and is not at the same time, that 
sort of thing would appear also to lie in the interval be- 
tween pure being and absolute not-being ; and that the 
corresponding faculty is neither knowledge nor ignorance, 
but will be found in the interval between them ? 

True. 

And in that interval there has now been discovered a 
thing which we call opinion } 

There has. 

Then what remains to be discovered is the object which 
partakes equally of the nature of being and not-being, and 
cannot rightly be termed either, pure and simple ; this 
unknown term, when discovered, we may truly call the 
subject of opinion, and assign to each their due — to the 
extremes the faculty of the extreme and to the mean 
the faculty of the mean. 

True. 

This being premised, I would ask the gentleman who is 
of opinion that there is no absolute or unchangeable idea 
of beauty — in whose opinion the beautiful is the diverse 
— he, I say, your lover of beautiful sights, who cannot 
bear to be told that the just is one, and the beautiful is 
one, or that anything is one — to him I would appeal, 
saying. Best of men, of all these beautiful things is there 
one which will not be found ugly ; or of the just, which will 
not be found unjust ; or of the holy, which will not also 
be unholy } 

No, he replied ; the beautiful will in some point of view 
be found ugly ; and the same is true of the rest. 

And may not the many which are doubles be also 
halves.'' — doubles, that is, of one thing, and halves of 
another } 

Yes. 

And things great and small, heavy and light, will not 
be denoted by these any more than by the opposite 
names } 

True ; both those and the opposite names will always 
attach to all of them. 

And can any one of those many things which are called 



1 88 Source Book of the History of Education 



Knowledge 
relates to 
ideas to the 
absolute, 
while 
opinion 
relates to 
phenomenal 
existence. 



by particular names be said to be this rather than not to 
be this ? 

He replied : They are like the punning riddles which 
are asked at feasts or the children's puzzle about the 
eunuch aiming at the bat, with what he hit him, as they 
say in the puzzle, and what the bat was sitting upon ; for 
these immediate objects of which I am speaking are a 
riddle also, and have a double sense : nor can you fix them 
in your mind, either as being or not-being, or both or 
neither. 

Then what do you do with them ? I said. Can they 
have a better place than between being and not-being .'' 
For they are clearly not in greater darkness or negation 
than not-being, or more full of light and existence than 
being. 

That is quite true, he said. 

Thus then we seem to have discovered that the many 
things which are esteemed beautiful or good by the multi- 
tude, are tossing about in some region which is half-way 
between pure being and pure not-being .'' 

We have. 

Yes ; and we had before agreed that anything of this 
kind which we might find was to be described as matter 
of opinion, and not as matter of knowledge ; being the 
intermediate flux which is caught and detained by the 
intermediate faculty. 

Granted. 

Then those who see the many beautiful, and who yet 
neither see, nor can be taught to see, absolute beauty ; 
who see the many just, and not absolute justice, and the 
like, — such persons may be said to have opinion but not 
knowledge .'' 

That is certain. 

But those who see the absolute and eternal and immu- 
table may be said to know, and not to have opinion only .-' 

Neither can that be denied. 

The one love and embrace the subjects of knowledge, 
the other those of opinion .-' The latter are the same, as 
I dare say you will remember, who listened to sweet sounds 
and gazed upon fair colours, but would not tolerate the 
existence of absolute beauty. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 189 



Yes, I remember. 

Shall we then be guilty of any impropriety in calling 
them lovers of opinion rather than lovers of wisdom, and 
will they be very angry with us for thus describing them ? 

I shall tell them that they ought not to be angry at a 
description of themselves which is true. 

But those who love the truth of each thing are to be 
called lovers of wisdom and not lovers of opinion. 

Assuredly. 

BOOK VI 

And thus, Glaucon, after the argument has gone a weary 
way, the true and the false philosophers have at length 
appeared in view. 

I do not think, he said, that the way could have been 
shortened. 

I suppose not, I said ; and yet I believe that we might 
have a nearer view of both of them if there were not many 
other questions awaiting us, which he who desires to see 
in what the hfe of the just differs from that of the unjust 
must consider. 

And what question is next in order .-^ he asked. 

Surely, I said, there can be no doubt about that. Inas- 
much as philosophers only are able to grasp the eternal 
and unchangeable, and those who wander in the region of 
the many and variable are not philosophers, I must ask 
you which of the two kinds should be the rulers of our 
State } 

And how can we truly answer that question .-' 

Ask yourself, I replied, which of the two are better able Philoso- 
to guard the laws and institutions of our State ; and let P^^"^^ ^"^^ 
them be our guardians. 
■ Very good. 

Neither, I said, can there be any question that the guar- 
dian who is to keep anything should have eyes rather than 
no eyes .-• 

There can be no question of that. 

And are not those who are truly and indeed without the 
knowledge of the true being of each thing, and have in 
their souls no clear pattern, and are unable as with a 
painter's eye to look at the very truth and to that original 



the true 
rulers of the 
state. 



190 Source Book of the History of Education 



Their quali- 
fications. 



For they 

possess 

knowledge 



they are 
truthful ; 



to repair, and having perfect vision of the other world to 
order the laws about beauty, goodness, justice in this, if 
not already ordered, and to guard and preserve the order 
of them — are they not, I say, simply blind ? 

Assuredly, he replied, that is very much their condition. 

And shall they be our guardians when there are others 
who, besides being their equals in experience and not infe- 
rior to them in any particular of virtue, have also the knowl- 
edge of the truth .-' 

There can be no reason, he said, for rejecting those who 
have this great and pre-eminent quality, if they do not fail 
in any other respect. 

Suppose then, I said, that we determine how far they 
can unite this and the other excellences. 

By all means. 

In the first place, as we began by observing, the nature 
of the philosopher was to be ascertained ; about which, if 
we are agreed, then, if I am not mistaken, we shall also be 
agreed that such an union of qualities is possible, and that 
those in whom they are united, and those only, should be 
rulers in the State. Let us assume that philosophical minds 
always love knowledge of a sort which shows them the eter- 
nal nature not varying from generation and corruption. 

Agreed. 

And further, I said, let us admit that they are lovers of 
all true being ; there is no part whether greater or less, or 
more or less honourable, which they are willing to re- 
nounce; as we said before of the lover and the man of 
ambition. 

True. 

There is another quality which they will also need if they 
are to be what we were saying. 

What quality .■' 

Truthfulness : they will never intentionally receive false- 
hood, which is their detestation, and they will love the 
truth. 

Yes, that may be affirmed of them. 

'May be,' my friend, I replied, is not the word; say 
rather, ' must be affirmed ' : for he whose nature is amor- 
ous of anything cannot help loving all that belongs or is 
akin to the object of his affections. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 191 

Right, he said. 

And is there anything more akin to wisdom than truth ? 

How can there be ? 

Or can the same nature be a lover of wisdom and a lover 
of falsehood ? 

Never. 

The true lover of learning then must from his earliest 
youth, as far as in him Hes, desire all truth .-" 

Assuredly. 

But then again, he whose desires are strong in one direc- 
tion will have them weaker in others ; they will be like a 
stream which has been drawn off into another channel. 

True. 

He whose desires are drawn towards knowledge in every 
form will be absorbed in the pleasures of the soul, and will 
hardly feel bodily pleasure — I mean, if he be a true phil- 
osopher and not a sham one. 

That is most certain. 

Such an one is sure to be temperate and the reverse of they are 
covetous ; for the motives which make another man desir- temperate ; 
ous to have and to spend, are no part of his character. 

Very true. 

Another criterion of the philosophical nature has also to 
be considered. 

What is that ? 

There should be no secret corner of meanness; for little- 
ness is the very opposite of a soul which is ever longing 
after the whole of things both divine and human. 

Most true, he replied. 

Then how can he who has magnificence of mind and is 
the spectator of all time and all existence, think much of 
human life .-' 

He cannot. 

Or can such an one account death fearful ? they are 

No indeed. brave and 

Then the cowardly and mean nature has no part in true 
philosophy } 

Certainly not. 

Or again : can he who is harmoniously constituted, who 
is not covetous or mean, or a boaster, or a coward — can 
he, I say, ever be unjust or hard in his dealings .-' 



magnani- 
mous : 



192 Source Book of the History of Education 

Impossible, 
they are just Then you will note whether a man is just and gentle, or 
and gentle; rude and unsociable; these are the signs which distinguish 
even in youth the philosophical nature from the unphilo- 
sophical. 

True. 

And there is another point which should be remarked. 

What point ? 

Whether he has or has not a pleasure in learning ; for 
no one will love that which gives him pain, and in which 
after much toil he makes little progress. 

Certainly not. 
they are not And again, if he is forgetful and retains nothing of what 
forgetful. he learns, will he not be an empty vessel.'* 

That is certain. 

Labouring in vain, he must end in hating himself and 
his fruitless occupation .-' 

Yes. 

Then the forgetful soul cannot be ranked among phi- 
losophers ; a philosopher ought to have a good memory } 

Certainly. 

Yet again, the inharmonious and unseemly nature can 
only tend to disproportion .'' 

Undoubtedly. 

And do you consider truth to be akin to proportion or to 
disproportion ? 

To proportion. 

Then, besides other qualities, let us seek for a well-pro- 
portioned and gracious mind, whose own nature will move 
spontaneously towards the true being of everything. 

Certainly. 

Well, and do not all these qualities go together, and are 
they not necessary to a soul, which is to have a full and 
perfect participation of being .'' 

They are absolutely necessary, he replied. 

And must not that be a blameless study which he only 
can pursue who has a good memory, and is quick to learn, 
noble, gracious, the friend of truth, justice, courage, tern;-, 
perance, who are his brethren } 

The god of jealousy himself, he said, could find no fault 
with such a study. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 193 



And to these, I said, when perfected by years and edu- 
cation, and to these only you will entrust the State. 
. Here Adeimantus interposed and said : To this, Socrates, 
no one can offer a reply; but there is a feeling which those 
who hear you talk as you are now doing often experience, 
and which I may describe in this way : they fancy that 
they are led astray a little at each step in the argument, 
owing to their own want of skill in asking and answering 
questions ; these littles accumulate, and at the end of the 
discussion they are found to have sustained a mighty over- 
throw and reversal of their first notions. And as unskilful 
players of draughts are at last shut up by their skilled ad- 
versaries and have no piece to move, so they find them- 
selves at last shut up and have no word to say in this new 
game of which words are the counters ; and yet all the 
time they are in the right. The observation is suggested 
to me by what is now occurring. For any one of us might 
say, that although in words he is not able to meet you at 
each step in the argument, as a fact he sees that the vo- 
taries of philosophy who carry on the study, not only in 
youth with a view to education, but as the pursuit of their 
maturer years, for the most part grow into very strange 
beings, not to say utter rogues, and that those who may be 
considered the best of them, are made useless to the world 
by the very study which you extol. 

Well, I said ; and do you think that they are wrong } 

I cannot tell, he replied ; but I should Hke to know what 
is your opinion. 

Hear my answer ; I am of opinion that they are quite 
right. 

Then how can you be justified in saying that cities will 
not cease from evil until philosophers rule in them, when 
philosophers are acknowledged by us to be of no use to 
them .-* 

You ask a question, I said, to which I can only reply in 
a parable. 

Yes, Socrates ; and that is a way of speaking to which 
you are not at all accustomed, I suppose. 

I perceive, I said, that you are vastly amused at having 
plunged me into such a hopeless discussion ; and now you 
shall hear the parable in order that you may judge better 



This opinion 
concerning 
philosophers 
as the proper 
rulers, the 
reverse of 
popular 
belief. 



194 Source Book of the History of Education 



The 

objection 
answered by 
a parable. 



of the meagreness of my imagination : for the treatment 
which the best men experience from their States is so griev- 
ous that no single thing on earth can be compared with 
them ; and therefore if I would defend them I must have 
recourse to iiction, and make a compound of many things, 
like the fabulous unions of goats and stags which are found 
in pictures. Imagine then a fleet or a ship in which there 
is a captain who is taller and stronger than any of the crew, 
but he is a little deaf and has a similar infirmity in sight, 
and his knowledge of navigation is not much better. Now 
the sailors are quarrelling with one another about the steer- 
ing ; every one is of opinion that he ought to steer, though 
he has never learned and cannot tell who taught him or 
when he learned, and will even assert that the art of navi- 
gation cannot be taught, and is ready to cut in pieces him 
who says the contrary. They throng about the captain, 
and do all that they can to make him commit the helm to 
them ; and if he refuses them and others prevail, they kill 
the others or throw them overboard, and having first 
chained up the noble captain's senses with drink or some 
narcotic drug, they mutiny and take possession of the ship 
and make themselves at home with the stores ; and thus, 
eating and drinking, they continue their voyage with such 
success as might be expected of them. Him who is their 
partisan and zealous in the design of getting the ship out 
of the captain's hands into their own, whether by force or 
persuasion, they compliment with the name of sailor, pilot, 
able seaman, and abuse the other sort of man and call him 
a good-for-nothing; but they have not even a notion that the 
true pilot must pay attention to the year and seasons and 
sky and stars and winds, and whatever else belongs to his 
art, if he intends to be really qualified for the command of 
a ship ; while at the same time he must and will be the 
steerer, whether other people like or not ; and they think 
that to combine the exercise of command with the steerer's 
art is impossible. Now in vessels which are thus circum- 
stanced and among sailors of this class, how will the true 
pilot be regarded .'' Will he not be called by the mutineers 
a prater, a star-gazer, a good-for-nothing } 

Of course, said Adeimantus. 

I do not suppose, I said, that you would care to hear the 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 195 

interpretation of the figure, which is an allegory of the true 
philosopher in his relation to the State ; for you under- 
stand already. 

Certainly. 

Then suppose you now take the parable to the gentle- 
man who is surprised at finding that philosophers have no 
honour in their cities, and explain to him and try to con- 
vince him that their having honour would be far more 
extraordinary, 

I will. 

Say to him, that, in deeming the best of the votaries of 
philosophy to be useless to the rest of the world, he is 
right ; but he ought to attribute their uselessness to the 
fault of those who will not use them, and not to themselves. 
The pilot should not humbly beg the sailors to be com- 
manded by him — that is not the order of nature; neither 
are the wise to go to the doors of the rich (the ingenious 
author of this saying told a lie), for the truth is, that, when 
a man is ill, whether he be rich or poor, he must go to the 
physician's door — the physician will not come to him — 
and he who is asking to be governed, to the door of 
him who is able to govern. The ruler who is good for 
anything ought not to ask his subjects to obey him ; he 
is not like the present governors of mankind, who may 
be compared to the mutinous sailors, and the true helms- 
man to those whom they call good-for-nothings and star- 
gazers. 

Precisely, he said. 

For these reasons, and among men like these, philosophy, 
the noblest pursuit of all, is not likely to be much esteemed 
by her adversaries ; not that the greatest and most lasting 
injury is done to her by them, but by her own professing 
followers, the same of whom you suppose the accuser to 
say, that the greater number of them are arrant rogues, 
and the best are useless ; in which opinion I agreed. 

Yes. 

And the reason why the good are useless has been now 
explained .-' 

True. 

Then shall we now endeavour to show that the corruption 
of the greater number is also unavoidable, and that this is 



196 Source Book of the History of Education 



Phiiosophyis not to be laid to the charge of philosophy any more than 

not respon- the Other ? 

By all means. 

And let us ask and answer in turn, first going back to the 
description of the gentle and noble nature. Truth, as you 
will remember, was his captain, whom he followed always 
and in all things ; failing in this, he was an impostor, and 
had no part or lot in true philosophy. 

Yes, that was said. 

Well, and is not this quality alone greatly at variance 
with our present notions of him } 

Certainly, he said. 

And have we not a right to say in his defence, that the 
true lover of knowledge is always striving after being — 
that is his nature ; he will not rest in the multiplicity of 
individuals which is an appearance only, but will go on — 
the keen edge will not be blunted, neither the force of his 
desire abate until he have attained the knowledge of the 
true nature of every essence by a kindred power in the 
soul, and by that power drawing near and mingling and 
becoming incorporate with very being, having begotten 
mind and truth, he will know and live and grow truly, and 
then, and not till then, will he cease from his travail. 

Nothing, he said, can be more just than such a descrip- 
tion of him. 

And will the love of a lie be any part of a philosopher's 
nature .'' Will he not utterly hate a lie .-' 

He will. 

And when truth is the captain, we cannot suspect any 
evil of the band which he leads .■' 

Impossible. 

Justice and health will be of the company, and temper- 
ance will follow after .'' 

True, he repHed. 

Neither is there any reason why I should again set 
in array the philosopher's virtues, as you will doubt- 
less remember that courage, magnanimity, apprehension, 
memory, were his natural gifts. And you objected that, 
although no one could deny what I then said, still, if you 
leave words and look at facts, the persons who are thus 
described are some of them manifestly useless, and the 



Educatiojial Theory: Philosophical View 197 

greater number wholly depraved ; we were then led to 
inquire into the grounds of these accusations, and we had 
arrived at the point of asking why are the many bad, 
which question of necessity brought us back to the exami- 
nation and definition of the true philosopher. 

Exactly. 

And now we have to consider the corruptions of the The corrujjt 
philosophical nature, why so many are spoiled and so few typesofphil- 
escape spoiling — I am speaking of those whom you call nature.*^^ 
useless but not wicked — and after that we will consider 
the imitators of philosophy, what manner of natures are 
they who aspire after a profession which is above them 
and of which they are unworthy, and then, by their mani- 
fold inconsistencies, bring upon philosophy, and upon all 
philosophers, that universal reprobation of which we speak. 

What are these corruptions, he said ? 

I will see if I can explain them to you. Every one will 
admit that a nature having in perfection all the qualities 
which make a philosopher, is a plant that rarely grows 
among men — there are not many of them. 

They are very rare. 

And what numberless causes may tend utterly to destroy 
these rare natures ! 

What causes .'' 

In the first place there are their own virtues, their cour- 
age, temperance, and the rest of them, every one of which 
praiseworthy quaHties (and this is a most singular circum- 
stance) destroys and distracts from philosophy the soul 
which is the possessor of them. 

That is very singular, he repHed. • 

Then there are all the ordinary goods of life — beauty, 
wealth, strength, rank, and great connections in the State 
— which I have described generally, and therefore need 
not enlarge upon them; — these also have a corrupting 
and distracting effect. 

I know the goods which you mean, and I should like to 
know more precisely what you mean about them. 

Grasp the truth as a whole, I said, and in the right way ; 
you will then have no difficulty in understanding the pre- 
ceding remarks, and they will no longer appear strange to 
you. 



198 Source Book of the History of Education 

And how am I to do so ? he asked. 

Why, I said, we know that when any germ or seed, 
whether vegetable or animal, fails to meet with proper 
nutriment or climate or soil, the greater the vigour, the 
more will it lack its proper qualities, for evil is a greater 
enemy to good than to the not-good. 

Very true. 

There is reason in supposing that the finest natures, 
when under ahen conditions, receive more injury than the 
inferior, because the contrast is greater. 

Very true.^ 



BOOK VII 



Yes, my friend, I said ; and there Hes the point. You 
must contrive for your future rulers another and a better 
life than that of a ruler, and then you may have a well- 
ordered State; for only in the State which offers this, will 
they rule who are truly rich, not in silver and gold, but in 
virtue and wisdom, which are the true blessings of life. 
Whereas if they go to the administration of pubUc affairs, 
poor and hungering after their own private advantage, 
thinking that hence they are to snatch the good of life, 
order there can never be ; for they will be fighting about 
office, and the civil and domestic broils which thus arise 
will be the ruin of the rulers themselves and of the whole 
State. 

Most true, he replied. 

And the only life which looks down upon the life of 
poHtical ambition is that of true philosophy } Do you know 
of any other .'' 

No, indeed, he said. 

And those who govern ought not to be lovers of the 
task .? For if they are, there will be rival lovers, and they 
will fight. 

No question. 

Whom then would you choose rather than those who are 

1 The extract relating to the Sophists is given in Chapter III. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 199 



wisest about affairs of State, and who at the same time 
have other honours and another and a better life ? 

They are the men, and I will choose them, he replied. 

Would you like us then to consider in what way such 
guardians may be called into existence, and how they are 
to be brought from darkness to light, — as some are said 
to have ascended from the world below to the gods ? 

Certainly I should, he replied. 

The process, I said, is not the turning over of an oyster- 
shell, but the turning round of a soul from darkness visi- 
ble to the upward path of truth and being. 

Very true. 

And should we not enquire what sort of knowledge has 
the power of effecting such a change .•" 

Certainly. 

What sort of knowledge is there which would draw the 
soul from becoming to being } And another consideration 
has just occurred to me : You will remember that our 
young men are to be warrior athletes .-' 

Yes, that was said. 

Then this new kind of knowledge must have another 
quaHty .■* 

What quality .'' 

Usefulness in war. 

Yes, if possible. 

There were two parts in our former scheme of educa- 
tion, were there not } 

True. 

There was gymnastic which presided over the growth 
and decay of the body, and may therefore be regarded as 
having to do with generation and corruption .-' 

True. 

Then that is not the knowledge which we are seeking 
to discover .-' 

No. 

But what do you say of music, for that also entered to a 
certain extent into our scheme } 

That, he said, as you will remember, was the counter- 
part of gymnastic, and trained the guardians by the influ- 
ences of habit, by harmony making them harmonious, and 
by rhythm rhythmical, although not giving them science ; 



How the 
guardian 
class is to be 
created. 



What sub- 
jects of study 
in addition 
to those 
previously 
discussed? 



200 Source Book of the History of Education 

and the words, whether fabulous or partly true, had kin- 
dred elements of rhythm and harmony in them. But 
musical knowledge was not of a kind which tended to that 
good which you are now seeking. 

You are most accurate, I said, in your recollection ; for 
in music there certainly was nothing of the kind. But 
what branch of knowledge is there, my dear friend, which 
is of the desired nature ; since all the useful arts were 
reckoned mean by us .'' 

Undoubtedly ; and yet if music and gymnastic are ex- 
cluded, and the arts are also excluded, what remains .-• 

Well, I said, there may be nothing left ; and then we shall 
have to take something which is of universal application. 

What may that be .'' 

A something which all arts and sciences and intelli- 
gences use in common, and which every one ought to 
learn among the elements of education. 

What is that t 
Arithmetic. The little matter of distinguishing one, two, and three 
— in a word, number and calculation: — do not all arts and 
sciences necessarily partake of them .'' 

Yes. 

Then the art of war partakes of them } 

To be sure. 

Then Palamedes, when he appears in the play, proves 
Agamemnon ridiculously unfit to be a general. Did you 
never remark how he declares that he had invented number, 
and had numbered and set in array the ranks of the army 
at Troy ; which implies that they had never been numbered 
before, and Agamemnon must be supposed literally to have 
been incapable of counting his own feet — how could he if 
he was ignorant of number .-• And if that is true, what 
sort of general must he have been } 

I should say a very strange one, certainly. 

Must not a warrior, then, I said, in addition to his mili- 
tary skill, have a knowledge of arithmetic .'' 
Its value. Certainly he must, if he is to have the least understand- 

ing of military tactics, or indeed, I should rather say, if he 
is to be a man at all. 

I should like to know whether you have the same notion 
which I have of this study ? 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 201 

What is your notion ? 

It appears to me to be a study which leads naturally to 
reflection, and is of the kind which we are seeking, but has 
never been rightfully used ; for it is really of use in draw- 
ing us towards being. 

Will you explain your meaning ? he said. 

I will try, I said ; and I wish you would consider and 
help me, and say ' yes ' or ' no ' when I attempt to distin- 
guish in my own mind what branches of knowledge have 
this attracting power, in order that we may have clearer 
proof that arithmetic is one of them. 

Explain, he said. 

I mean to say that objects of sense are of two kinds ; 
some of them do not invite thought because the sense is an 
adequate judge of them ; while in the case of other objects 
there is a mistrust of the senses which imperatively 
demands enquiry. 

You must be referring, he said, to the manner in which 
the senses are imposed upon by distance, and by painting 
in light and shade. 

No, I said, that is not my meaning. 

Then what is your meaning .-* 

When speaking of uninviting objects, I mean those 
which do not pass from one sensation to another ; inviting 
objects are those which give opposite sensations ; in this 
latter case the sense coming upon the object, whether at a 
distance or near, gives no more vivid idea of anything in 
particular than of its opposite. An illustration will make 
my meaning clearer : — here are three fingers — a little 
finger, a second finger, and a middle finger. 

Very good. 

You may suppose that they are seen quite close. And 
here comes the point. 

What is that 1 

Each of them equally appears a finger, whether seen in 
the middle or at the extremity, whether white or black, or 
thick or thin — it makes no difference ; a finger is a finger 
all the same. And in all these cases the ordinary soul is 
not compelled to ask of thought the question what is a fin- 
ger .-• for the sight never intimates to her that a finger is 
other than a finger. 



202 Source Book of the History of Education 

True. 

And therefore, I said, there is nothing here which in- 
vites or excites intelligence. 

There is not, he said. 

But is this equally true of the greatness and smallness of 
the fingers .'' Can sight adequately perceive them } and is 
no difference made by the circumstance that one of the 
fingers is in the middle and another at the extremity } 
And in like manner does the touch adequately perceive the 
qualities of thickness or thinness, or softness or hardness .-' 
And so of the other senses ; do they give perfect intima- 
tions of such matters .-' Is not their mode of operation 
rather on this wise — the sense which is concerned with the 
quality of hardness is necessarily concerned also with 
the quality of softness, and only intimates to the soul that 
the same thing is felt to be hard and soft .-' 

Very true, he said. 

And must not the soul be perplexed at this intimation of 
a hard which is also soft ? What, again, is the meaning of 
light and heavy, if that which is light is also heavy, and 
that which is heavy, light .-• 

Yes, he said, these intimations are very curious and have 
to be explained. 

Yes, I said, and in these perplexities the soul naturally 
summons to her aid calculation and intelligence, that she 
may see whether the several objects announced are one or 
two. 

True. 

And if they turn out to be two, is not each of them one 
and different .'' 

Certainly. 

And if each is one, and both are two, she will conceive 
the two as in a state of division, for if they were undivided 
they could only be conceived of as one .■' 

True. 

The eye certainly did behold both small and great, not 
divided but confused. 

Yes. 

Whereas the thinking mind, intending to light up the 
chaos, was compelled to reverse the process, and look at 
small and great as separate and not confused. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 203 

Very true. 

And was not this the beginning of the inquiry " What is 
great ? " and " What is small ?" 

Exactly so. 

Here began the distinction of the visible and the intel- 
ligible. 

Most true. 

And that is an illustration of my meaning in describing 
impressions as inviting to the intellect, or the reverse — 
the inviting impressions are simultaneous with opposite 
impressions. 

I understand, he said, and agree with you. 

And to which class do unity and number belong } 

I do not know, he replied. 

Think a little and you will see that what has preceded Arithmetic 
will supply the answer ; for if simple unity, and that only, ^ means for 
can be adequately perceived by the sight or by any other fhetensefor 
sense, then, as we were saying in the case of the fingers, ideas, 
there will be nothing to attract towards being ; but when 
there is some contradiction always present, and one is the 
reverse of one and involves the conception of plurality, 
then thought begins to be aroused within, and the soul per- 
plexed and wanting to arrive at a decision asks " What is 
absolute unity .-* " And this is the way in which the study 
of the one has a power of drawing and converting the 
mind to the contemplation of true being. 

And surely, he said, this occurs notably when we look 
at one, for the same thing is seen by us as one and as 
infinite in multitude.'' 

Yes, I said ; and this being true of one must be equally ' 
true of all number .-• 

Certainly. 

And all arithmetic and calculation have to do with 
number .-* 

Yes. 

And they are conductors to truth } 

Yes, in an eminent degree. 

Then this is the sort of knowledge of which we are in 
search, having a double use, military and philosophical ; 
for the man of war must learn the art of number that he 
may know how to array his troops, and the philosopher 



1^ 



204 Source Book of the History of Education 

also, because he has to rise out of the sea of change and 
lay hold of true being, if he would be an arithmetician. 

That is true. 

And our guardian is both warrior and philosopher ? 

Certainly. 

Then this is a kind of knowledge which legislation may 
fitly prescribe; and we must endeavour to persuade the 
principal men of our State to go and learn arithmetic, not 
as amateurs, but they must carry on the study until they 
see the nature of numbers in the mind only ; nor again, in 
the spirit of merchants or traders, with a view to buying or 
selling, but for the sake of their military use, and of the 
soul herself ; and because this will be the easiest way for 
her to pass from becoming to truth and being. 

That is excellent, he said. 

Yes, I said ; and now having spoken of it, I must add 
how charming the science is ! and in how many ways it 
conduces to our desired end, if pursued in the spirit of a 
philosopher, and not of a shopkeeper ! 

How do you mean } 

I mean, as I was saying, that arithmetic has a very great 
and elevating effect, compelling the soul to reason about 
abstract number, and rebelling against the introduction of 
visible or tangible objects into the argument. You know 
how steadily the masters of the art repel and ridicule any 
one who attempts to divide absolute unity when he is cal- 
culating, and if you divide, they multiply, taking care that 
one shall continue one and not become lost in fractions. 

That is very true. 

Now, suppose a person were to say to them : O my 
friends, what are these wonderful numbers about which 
you are reasoning, in which, as you say, there is a unity 
such as you require, and each unit is equal, invariable, 
indivisible, — what would they answer .-' 

They would answer, as I suppose, that they were speak- 
ing of those numbers which are only realized in thought. 

Then you see that this knowledge may be truly called 
necessary, necessitating as it does the use of the pure in- 
telligence in the attainment of pure truth ? 

Yes ; that is a marked characteristic of it. 

And have you further remarked, that those who have a 



Educational Theory : Philosophical View 205 



a kind of knowl- 
be trained, and 



natural talent for calculation are generally quick at every 
other kind of knowledge ; and even the dull, if they have 
had an arithmetical training, gain in quickness, if not in 
any other way ? 

Very true, he said. 

And indeed, you will not easily find a more difficult 
study, and not many as difficult. 

You will not. 

And, for these reasons, arithmetic is 
edge in which the best natures should 
which must not be given up. 

I agree. 

Let this then be made one of our subjects of education. 
And next, shall we enquire whether the kindred science 
also concerns us .-* 

You mean geometry .-' 

Yes. 

Certainly, he said ; that part of geometry which relates 
to war is clearly our concern; for in pitching a camp, or 
taking up a position, or closing or extending the lines of 
an army, or any other military manoeuvre, whether in actual 
battle or on a march, there will be a great difference in a 
general, according as he is or is not a geometrician. 

Yes, I said, but for that purpose a very little of either 
geometry or calculation will be enough ; the question is 
rather of the higher and greater part of geometry, whether 
that tends towards the great end — I mean towards the 
vision of the idea of good ; and thither, as I was saying, 
all things tend which compel the soul to turn her gaze 
towards that place, where is the full perfection of being, 
of which she ought, by all means, to attain the vision. 

True, he said. 

Then if geometry compels us to view being, it concerns 
us ; if becoming only, it does not concern us .-* 

Yes, that is what we assert. 

Nevertheless, such a conception of the science is in flat 
contradiction to the ordinary language of geometricians, 
as will hardly be denied by those who have any acquain- 
tance with their study : for they speak of squaring and 
applying and adding, having in view use only, and absurdly 
confuse the necessities of geometry with those of daily 



Geometry : 
— its practi- 
cal and its 
theoretical 
value. 



2o6 Source Book of the History of Education 



Its indirect 
advantages. 



Astronomy : 
— its practi- 
cal value. 



life ; whereas knowledge is the real object of the whole 
science. 

Certainly, he said. 

Then must not a further admission be made } 

What admission .'' 

The admission that this knowledge at which geometry 
aims is of the eternal, and not of the perishing and transient. 

That, he replied, may be readily allowed, and is true. 

Then, my noble friend, geometry will draw the soul 
towards truth, and create the spirit of philosophy, and 
raise up that which is now unhappily allowed to fall 
down. 

Nothing will be more effectual. 

Then nothing should be more effectually enacted than 
that the inhabitants of your fair city should learn geom- 
etry. Moreover the science has indirect effects, which are 
not small. 

Of what kind are they .-' he said. 

There are the military advantages of which you spoke, 
I said ; and in all departments of study, as experience 
proves, any one who has studied geometry is infinitely 
quicker of apprehension than one who has not studied it. 

Yes, he said, the difference between a geometrician and 
one who is not a geometrician is very great indeed. 

Then shall we propose this as a second branch of knowl- 
edge which our youth will study .-' 

Let us make the proposal, he replied. 

And suppose we make astronomy the third — what do 
you say } 

I am strongly inclined to it, he said ; the observation of 
the seasons and of months and years is quite essential to 
husbandry and navigation, and not less essential to military 
tactics. 

I am amused, I said, at your fear of the world, which 
makes you guard against the appearance of insisting upon 
useless studies ; and I quite admit the difficulty of believ- 
ing that in every man there is an eye of the soul which, 
when by other pursuits lost and dimmed, is by these puri- 
fied and re-illumined ; and is mofe precious far than ten 
thousand bodily eyes, for by this alone is truth seen. Now 
there are two classes of persons : one class who will agree 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 207 

with you and will take your words as a revelation ; another 
class who have no understanding of them, and to whom 
they will naturally seem to be idle tales. And you had 
better decide at once with which of the two you are argu- 
ing ; or, perhaps, you will say with neither, and that your 
chief aim in carrying on the argument is your own im- 
provement ; at the same time not grudging to others any 
benefit which they may derive. 

I think that I should prefer to carry on the argument 
on my own behalf. 

Then take a step backward, for we have gone wrong in 
the order of the sciences. 

What was the mistake .■" he said. 

After plane geometry, I said, we took solids in revolu- 
tion, instead of taking solids in themselves ; whereas after 
the second dimension the third, which is concerned with 
cubes and dimensions of depth, ought to have followed. 

That is true, Socrates; but these subjects seem to be as 
yet hardly explored. 

Why, yes, I said, and for two reasons: — in the first 
place, no government patronises them, which leads to a 
want of energy in the study of them, and they are diffi- 
cult ; in the second place, students cannot learn them 
unless they have a teacher. But then a teacher can hardly 
be found, and even if he could, as ^natters now stand, the 
students, who are very conceited, would not mind him. 
That, however, would be otherwise if the whole State 
patronised and honoured these studies ; then they would 
find disciples, and there would be continuous and earnest 
search, and discoveries would be made ; since even now, 
disregarded as they are by the world, and maimed of their 
fair proportions, and although none of their votaries can 
tell the use of them, still these studies force their way by 
their natural charm, and very likely they may emerge into 
light. 

Yes, he said, there is a remarkable charm in them. But 
I do not clearly understand the change in the order. 
First you began with a geometry of plane surfaces 1 

Yes, I said. 

And you placed astronomy next, and then you made a 
step backward .-' 



2o8 Sotirce Book of the History of Edtication 

Yes, and I have delayed you by my haste ; the ludicrous 
state of solid geometry made me pass over this branch and 
go on to astronomy, or motion of solids. 

True, he said. 

Then assuming that the science now omitted would come 
into existence if encouraged by the State, let us go on to 
astronomy, which will be fourth. 

The right order, he replied. And now, Socrates, as you 
rebuked the vulgar manner in which I praised astronomy 
before, my praise shall be more worthy of your own spirit. } 
For every one, as I think, must feel that astronomy com- | 
pels the soul to look upwards, and leads us from this world ! 
to another. I 

I am an exception then, for I should rather say that j 
those who elevate astronomy into philosophy make us look i 
downwards and not upwarde. j 

What do you mean .-' he asked. j 

The theo- You, I replied, have in your mind a sublime conception j 

!!fl^n^l!!«°^ °^ ^°^ ^^ know the things above. And I dare say that if i 
a person were to throw his head back and study the fretted 
ceiling, you would still think that his mind was the per- j 
cipient, and not his eyes. And you are very likely right, I 
and I may be a simpleton : but, in my opinion, that knowl- } 
edge only which is of being and of the unseen can make j 
the soul look upwards, and whether a man gapes at the j 
heavens or blinks on the ground, seeking to learn some 
particular of sense, I would deny that he can learn, for 
nothing of that sort is matter of science ; his soul is look- 
ing, not upwards, but downwards, whether his way to 
knowledge is by water or by land, in whichever element 
he may lie on his back and float. 

I acknowledge, he said, the justice of your rebuke. 
Still, I should like to ascertain how astronomy can be 
learned in any manner more conducive to that knowledge 
of which we speak .'' 

I answered : The starry heaven which we behold is 
wrought upon a visible ground, and therefore, although 
the fairest and most perfect of visible things, must neces- 
sarily be deemed inferior far to the true motions of abso- 
lute swiftness and absolute slowness, which are relative to 
each other, and carry with them that which is contained in 



astronomy. 



Educational Theory : Philosophical View 209 

them, in the true number and in every true figure. Now, 
these are to be apprehended by reason and intelHgence, 
but not by sight. 

True, he replied. 

The spangled heavens should be used as a pattern and 
with a view to that higher knowledge ; their beauty is like 
the beauty of figures or pictures wrought by the hand of 
Daedalus, or some other great artist, which we may chance 
to behold ; any geometrician who saw them would appre- 
ciate the exquisiteness of their workmanship, but he would 
never dream of thinking that in them he could find the 
true equal or the true double, or the truth of any other 
proportion. 

No, he said, to think so would be ridiculous. 

And will not a true astronomer have the same feeling 
when he looks at the movements of the stars .-' Will he 
not think that heaven and the things in heaven are framed 
by the Creator in the most perfect manner .-' But when he 
reflects that the proportions of night and day, or of both 
to the month, or of the month to the year, or of the other 
stars to these and to one another, are of the visible and 
material, he will never fall into the error of supposing that 
they are eternal and liable to no deviation — that would be 
monstrous ; he will rather seek in every possible way to 
discover the truth of them. 

I quite agree now that you tell me so. 

Then, I said, in astronomy, as in geometry, we should 
use problems, and let the heavens alone if we desire to 
have a real knowledge of the science, and to train the rea- 
soning faculty by the aid of it. 

That, he said, is a work infinitely beyond our present 
astronomers. 

Yes, I said ; and there are many other things which 
must also have a similar extension given to them, if our 
legislation is to be of any use. 

Can you tell me of any other suitable study .■• 

No, he said, not without thinking. 

Motion, I said, has many forms, and not one only ; two 
of them are obvious enough ; and there are others, as I 
imagine, which may be left to wiser heads than ours. 

But where are the two } 



2IO Source Book of the History of Education 



li 



The science 
of music or 
of harmony. 



There is a second, I said, which is the counterpart of 
the one already named. 

And what may that be } 

The second, I said, would seem relatively to the ears to 
be what the first is to the eyes ; for I conceive that as the 
eyes are designed to look up at the stars, so are the ears 
to hear harmonious motions, and these are sister sciences 
— as the Pythagoreans say, and we, Glaucon, agree with 
them ? 

Yes, he replied. 

But this, I said, is a laborious study, and therefore we 
had better go and learn of them ; and they will tell us 
whether there are any other apphcations of these sciences. 
At the same time, we must not lose sight of our own higher 
object. 

What is that } 

There is a perfection which all knowledge ought to 
reach, and which our pupils ought also to attain, and not 
to fall short of, as I was saying that they did in astronomy. 
For in the science o" harmony, as you probably know, they 
are equally empirical. The sounds and consonances which 
they compare are those which are heard only, and their 
labour, Uke that of the astronomers, is in vain. 

Yes, by heaven ! he said ; and 'tis as good as a play to 
hear them talking about their condensed notes, as they call 
them ; they put their ears alongside of their neighbours as 
if to get a sound out of them — one set of them declaring 
that they catch an intermediate note and have found the 
least interval which should be the unit of measurement ; 
the others maintaining the opposite theory that the two 
sounds have passed into the same — either party setting 
their ears before their understanding. 

You mean, I said, those gentlemen who tease and tor- 
ture the strings and rack them on the pegs of the instru- 
ment : I might carry on the metaphor and speak after 
their manner of the blows which the plectrum gives, and 
make accusations against the strings, both of backwardness 
and forwardness to sound ; but this would be tedious, and 
therefore I will only say that these are not the men, but 
that I am speaking of the Pythagoreans, of whom I was 
just now proposing to enquire about harmony. For they 



Educational Theory : Philosophical View 2 1 1 



These four 
studies form 
a prelude to 
the study of 



too are in error, like the astronomers ; they investigate the 
numbers of the harmonies which are heard, but they never 
attain to problems — that is to say, they never reach the 
natural harmonies of number, or reflect why some numbers 
are harmonious and others not. 

That, he said, is a thing of more than mortal knowledge. 

A thing, I replied, which I would rather call useful ; 
that is, if pursued with a view to the beautiful and good ; 
but if pursued in any other spirit, useless. 

Very true, he said. 

Now, when all these studies reach the point of intercom- 
munion and connection with one another, and come to be 
considered in their mutual affinities, then, I think, but not 
till then, will the pursuit of them have a value for our 
objects ; otherwise they are useless. 

I suspect so ; but you are speaking, Socrates, of a vast 
work. 

What do you mean } I said ; the prelude or what .-' Do 
you not know that all this is but the prelude to the actual dialectic^ 
strain which we have to learn } For you surely would not 
regard the skilled mathematician as a dialectician } 

Assuredly not, he said ; I have hardly ever known a 
mathematician who was capable of reasoning. 

But do you imagine that men who are unable to give 
and take a reason will have the knowledge which we re- 
quire of them .'' 

Neither can this be said any more than the other. 

And so, Glaucon, we have at last arrived at dialectic. 
This is that strain which is of the intellect only, but which 
the faculty of sight will nevertheless be found to imitate ; 
for sight, as you may remember, was finally imagined by 
us to behold real animals and the stars, and last of all the 
sun himself. And so with dialectic ; when a person starts 
on the discovery of the absolute by the Hght of reason only, 
and without any assistance of sense, if he perseveres by 
pure intelligence, he attains at last to the idea of good, and 
finds himself at the end of the intellectual world, as in the 
other case at the end of the visible. 

Exactly, he said. 

Then this is the progress which you call dialectic } 

True. 



212 Source Book of the History of Education 



The nature 
and the 
divisions of 
dialectic. 



The 

previous arts 
and sciences 
are partially 
concerned 
with 
opinion; 



But the release of the prisoners from chains, and their 
translation from the shadows to the images and to the light, 
and the ascent from the underground den to the sun, 
while their eyes are weak and in his presence are vainly 
trying to look on animals and plants and the light of the 
sun, but are able to look upon the divine images in the 
water, which are the shadows of true existence (not 
shadows of images cast by a light of fire, which compared 
with the sun is only an image) — this power of elevating 
the highest principle in the soul to the contemplation of 
that which is best in existence, with which we may com- 
pare the raising of the most luminous of the senses to the 
sight of that which is brightest in the visible world — this 
power is given, as I was saying, by all that study and pur- 
suit of the arts which has been described. 

I agree in what you are saying, he replied, which may 
be hard to believe, yet, from another point of view, is 
harder still to deny. But whether denied or not, let us 
assume all this, which may be the theme of many another 
discussion ; and now proceed at once from the prelude or 
preamble to the chief strain, and describe that in like man- 
ner. Say, then, what is the nature and what are the divi- 
sions of dialectic, and what are the paths which lead thither ; 
for these paths will also lead to our final rest. 

Dear Glaucon, I said, you will not be able to follow me 
here, though I would do my best, and you should behiold 
not an image only but the absolute truth, according to my 
notion. Although I am not confident that I could tell you 
the exact truth, I am certain that you would behold some- 
thing like the truth. 

Doubtless, he replied. 

But I must add, that the power of dialectic alone can 
reveal this, and only to one who is a disciple of the previ- 
ous sciences. 

Of that assertion you may be as certain as of the last. 

And certainly no one will argue that there is any other 
method or way of comprehending all true existence ; for 
the arts in general are concerned with the wants or opin- 
ions of men, or are cultivated for the sake of production 
and construction, or for the care of such productions and 
constructions ; and as to the mathematical arts which, as 



Educational Theory : Philosophical View 213 

we were saying, have some apprehension of true being — 
geometry and the like — they only dream about being, but 
never can they behold the waking reality so long as they 
leave the hypotheses which they use unexamined, and are 
unable to give an account of them. For when a man 
knows not his own first principle, and when the conclusion 
and intermediate steps are also constructed out of he 
knows not what, how can he imagine that such a conven- 
tional statement will ever become science ? 

Impossible, he said. 

Then dialectic, and dialectic alone, goes directly to the dialectic, 
first principle and is the only science which does away alone, deals 
with hypotheses in order to make certain of them ; the eye ^l||j J*^^^^' 
of the soul, which is literally buried in an outlandish 
slough, is by her taught to look upwards ; and she uses 
as handmaids, in the work of conversion, the sciences 
which we have been discussing. Custom terms them 
sciences, but they ought to have some other name, imply- 
ing greater clearness than opinion and less clearness than 
science : and this, in our previous sketch, was called under- 
standing. But there is no use in our disputing about 
names when we have realities of such importance to con- 
sider. 

No, he said ; any name will do which expresses the 
thought clearly. 

At any rate, we are satisfied, as before, to have four 
divisions ; two for intellect and two for opinion, and to call 
the first division science, the second understanding, the 
third belief, and the fourth knowledge of shadows, opinion 
being concerned with becoming, and intellect with being; 
and so to make a proportion — 

As being : becoming : : pure intellect : opinion. 

As science : belief : : understanding : knowledge of shadows. 

But let us leave the further distribution and division of the 
objects of opinion and of intellect, which will be a long 
enquiry, many times longer than this has been. 

As far as I understand, he said, I agree. 

And do you also agree, I said, in describing the dialec- 
tician as one who has a conception of the essence of each 
thing .-* And may he who is unable to acquire and impart 



214 Source Book of the History of Education 



Dialectic 
forms the 
culmination 
of the edu- 
cation of the 
guardian 
class — of 
philoso- 
phers. 



this conception, in whatever degree he fails, in that degree 
also be said to iail in intelligence ? Will you admit that ? 

Yes, he said ; how can I deny it ? 

And you would say the same of the conception of the 
good ? Until a person is able to abstract and define the 
idea of good, and unless he can run the gauntlet of all 
objections, and is ready to disprove them, not by appeals 
to opinion, but to true existence, never faltering at any 
step of the argument — unless he can do all this, you 
would say that he knows neither absolute good nor any 
other good ; he apprehends only a shadow, which is given 
by opinion and not by knowledge ; — dreaming and slum- 
bering in this life, before he is well awake here, he arrives 
at the world below, and has his final quietus. 

In all that I should most certainly agree with you. 

And surely you would not have the children of your 
ideal State, whom you are nurturing and educating — if 
the ideal ever becomes a reality — you would not allow the 
future rulers to be like posts, having no reason in them, 
and yet to be set in authority over the highest matters .-* 

Certainly not. 

Then you will enact that they shall have such an educa- 
tion as will enable them to attain the greatest skill in ask- 
ing and answering questions.-' 

Yes, he said, I will, with your help. 

Dialectic, then, as you will agree, is the coping-stone of 
the sciences, and is placed over them ; no other science 
can be placed higher — the nature of knowledge can no 
further go .-• 

I agree, he said. 

But to whom we are to assign these studies, and in what 
way they are to be assigned, is a question which remains 
to be considered. 

Yes, plainly. 

You remember, I said, how the rulers were chosen before } 

Certainly, he said. 

The same natures must still be chosen, and the prefer- 
ence again given to the surest and the bravest, and, if pos- 
sible, to the fairest ; and, having noble and manly tempers, 
they should also have the natural gifts which will facili- 
tate their education. 



Educational Theo?y : Philosophical View 215 

And what are they ? 

Such gifts as keenness and ready powers of acquisition ; 
for the mind more often faints from the severity of study 
than from the severity of gymnastics : the toil is more 
entirely the mind's own, and is not shared with the body. 

Very true, he replied. 

Further, he of whom we are in search should have a 
good memory, and be an unwearied solid man who is a 
lover of labour in any line, or he will never be able to 
undergo the double toil and trouble of body and mind. 

Certainly, he said ; he must have natural gifts. 

The mistake at present is, that those who study philoso- 
phy have no vocation, and this, as I was before saying, is 
the reason why she has fallen into disrepute : her true 
sons should study her and not bastards. 

How do you mean .-' 

In the first place, her votary should not have a lame or 
one-legged industry — I mean, that he should not be half 
industrious and half idle : as, for example, when a man is 
a lover of gymnastic and hunting, and all other bodily 
exercises, but a hater rather than a lover of the labour of 
learning or hearing or enquiring. Or he may have the 
other sort of lameness, and the love of labour may take 
an opposite form, and the man may be lame in another 
way. 

Certainly, he said. 

And as to truth, I said, is not a soul equally to be 
deemed halt and lame which hates voluntary falsehood 
and is extremely indignant at himself and others when 
they tell lies, but is patient of involuntary falsehood, and 
does not mind wallowing Hke a swinish beast in the mire 
of ignorance, and has no shame at being detected ? 

To be sure. 

And, again, as to temperance and courage and mag- 
nanimity, and every other virtue, should they not discern 
between the ways of the true son and of the bastard ? 
for wherever States and individuals fail in discrimination, 
they unconsciously make a friend or perhaps a ruler of one 
who is in a figure a lame man or a bastard, from a defect 
in some one of these qualities. 
That is very true, he said. 



2 1 6 Source Book of the History of Educatiott 



The proper 
period for 
the respec- 
tive stages 
of education. 



Education of 
children ; 



All these things, then, will have to be carefully consid- 
ered, and thoee whom we introduce to this vast system of 
education and training must be sound in limb and mind, 
and then justice herself will have nothing to say against 
us, and we shall be the saviours of the State ; but, if our 
pupils are men of another stamp, the reverse will hap- 
pen, and we shall pour a still greater flood of ridicule on 
philosophy. 

That would be discreditable. 

Yes, certainly, I said ; and yet, perhaps, in thus turning 
jest into earnest I am equally ridiculous. 

In what respect } 

I had forgotten, I said, that we were not in earnest, and 
spoke with too much excitement. For when I saw phi- 
losophy trampled under foot of men I could not help feel- 
ing a sort of indignation at the authors of her disgrace : 
and my anger made me vehement. 

Indeed ! I did not observe that you were more vehe- 
ment than was right. 

But I felt that I was. And now let me remind you that, 
although in our former selection we chose old men, we 
must not do so in this. Solon was under a delusion when 
he said that a man as he is growing older may learn many 
things — for he can no more learn than he can run ; youth 
is the time of toil. 

Very true. 

And, therefore, calculation and geometry and all the 
other elements of instruction, which are a preparation for 
dialectic, should be presented to the mind in childhood ; 
not, however, under any notion of forcing them. 

Why not .? 

Because a freeman ought to be a freeman in the acqui- 
sition of knowledge. Bodily exercise, when compulsory, 
does no harm ; but knowledge which is acquired under 
compulsion has no hold on the mind. 

Very true. 

Then, my good friend, I said, do not use compulsion, 
but let early education be a sort of amusement ; you will 
then be better able to find out the natural bent. 

You are right there. 

Do you remember our saying that the children, too, 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 217 



must be taken to see the battle on horseback ; and that 
if there were no danger they might be led close up and, 
like young hounds, have a taste of blood given them ? 

Yes, I remember. 

The same practice may be followed, I said, in other 
things — labours, lessons, dangers — and he who is most 
at home in all of them ought to be enrolled in a select 
number. 

At what age .-' 

At the age when the necessary gymnastics are over : 
the period whether of two or three years which passes in 
this sort of training is useless for any other purpose ; for 
sleep and exercise are unpropitious to learning ; and the 
trial of who is first in gymnastic exercises is one of the 
most important tests to which they are subjected. 

Certainly, he repHed. 

After that time those who are selected from the class of 
twenty years old will be promoted to higher honour, and 
the sciences which they learned without any order in their 
early education will now be brought together, and they 
will be able to see the natural relationship of them to one 
another and to true being. 

Yes, he said, that is the only kind of knowledge which 
is everlasting. 

Yes, I said ; and the capacity for such knowledge is 
the great criterion of dialectical talent : the comprehensive 
mind is always the dialectical. 

I agree with you, he said. 

These, I said, are the points which you must consider ; 
and those who have most of this comprehension, and who 
are most steadfast in their learning, and in their military 
and other public duties, when they arrive at the age of 
thirty will have to be chosen by you out of the select class, 
and elevated to higher honour; and you will have to prove 
them by the help of dialectic, in order to learn which of 
them is able to give up the use of sight and other senses, 
and in company with truth to attain absolute being. And 
here, my friend, great caution is required. 

Why great caution .'* 

Do you not remark, I said, how great the evil is which 
dialectic has introduced } 



after twenty 
years of age, 
devoted to 
study of the 
sciences. 



Dialectic 
studied from 
thirty to 
thirty-five. 



2i8 Source Book of the History of Education 

What evil ? he said. 

The lawlessness of which the professors of the art are 
full. 

Very true, he said. 

Do you think that there is anything unnatural in their 
case .'' or may I ask you to make some allowance for them ,-' 

What sort of allowance ? 

I want you, I said, by way of parallel, to imagine a sup- 
posititious son who is brought up in great wealth ; he is 
one of a large and numerous family, and has many flat- 
terers. When grown up he learns that his alleged are 
not his real parents ; but who the real are he is unable to 
discover. Can you guess how he will be likely to behave 
towards his flatterers and his supposed parents, first of all 
during the period when he is ignorant of the false relation, 
and then again when he knows .-' Or shall I guess for 
you .'' 

If you please. 

Then I guess, that while he is ignorant of the truth he 
will be likely to honour his father and his mother and his 
supposed relations more than the flatterers ; he will be 
less willing to see them in want, or to do any violence 
to them, or say anything evil of them, and he will be less 
willing to disobey them in important matters. 

He will. 

But when he has made the discovery, I should imagine 
that he would diminish his honour and regard for them, and 
would become more devoted to the flatterers ; their influ- 
ence over him would greatly increase ; he would now live 
after their ways, and openly associate with them, and, un- 
less he were of an unusually good disposition, he would 
think no more of his parents or other supposed friends. 

Well, all that is extremely probable. But how is the 
image applicable to the disciples of philosophy .'' 

In this way : you know that there are certain principles 
about justice and honour, which were taught us in child- 
hood, and under their parental authority we have been 
brought up, obeying and valuing them. 

That is true. 

There are also opposite maxims and habits of pleasure 
which flatter and attract our soul, but do not influence those 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 219 

who have any sense of right, and they continue to obey 
and value the maxims of their fathers. 

True. 

Now, when a man is in this state, and the questioning 
spirit asks what is fair or honourable, and he answers as 
the legislator has taught him, and then arguments come 
again and again and refute his words, and he is driven 
into believing that nothing is fair any more than foul, or 
just and good any more than the opposite, and the same 
of all his time-honoured notions, do you think that he will 
still obey and value them .-' 

Impossible. 

And when he ceases to think them honourable and 
natural as heretofore, and he fails to discover the true, 
can he be expected to pursue any life other than that 
which flatters his desires .-' 

He cannot. 

And from being a keeper of the law he is converted 
into a breaker of it .'' 

Unquestionably. 

Now all this is very natural in students of philosophy 
such as I have described, and also, as I was just now say- 
ing, most excusable. 

Yes, he said; and, I may add, pitiable. 

Therefore, that your feelings may not be moved to pity 
about our citizens who are thirty years of age, every care 
must be taken in introducing them to dialectic. 

Certainly. 

There is a danger lest they should taste the dear delight Danger in 
too early ; for young men, as you may have observed, too early 
when they first get the taste in their mouths, argue for diale^cUc. 
amusement, and are always contradicting and refuting 
others in imitation of those who refute them ; like puppy- 
dogs, they delight to tear and pull at all who come near 
them. 

Yes, he said, there is nothing of which they are fonder. 

And when they have made m.any conquests and received 
defeats at the hands of many, they violently and speedily 
get into a way of not believing anything that they believed 
before, and hence, not only they, but philosophy gener- 
ally, has a bad name with the rest of the world. 



2 20 Source Book of the History of Education 



A period of 
active politi- 
cal service 
should 
follow the 
training in 
dialectic. 



This to last 
until the 
fiftieth year 
of age. 



Too true, he said. 

But when a man begins to get older, he will no longer 
be guilty of such insanity ; he will imitate the dialectician 
who is seeking for truth, and not the eristic, who is con- 
tradicting for the sake of amusement ; and the greater 
moderation of his character will increase instead of dimin- 
ishing the honour of the pursuit. 

Very true, he said. 

And did we not make special provision for this, when 
we said that the disciples of philosophy were to be 
orderly and steadfast, not, as now, any chance aspirant 
or intruder? 

Very true. 

Suppose, I said, that the study of philosophy be con- 
tinued diligently and earnestly and exclusively for twice 
the number of years which were passed in bodily exercise 
— will that be enough .'' 

Would you say six or four years .-' he asked. 

Say five years, I replied ; at the end of that time they 
must be sent down into the den and compelled to hold 
any military or other office which young men are qualified 
to hold : in this way they will get their experience of life, 
and there will be an opportunity of trying whether, when 
they are drawn all manner of ways by temptation, they 
will stand firm or flinch. 

And how long is this stage of their lives to last .'' 

Fifteen years, I answered ; and when they have reached 
fifty years of age, then let those who still survive and have 
distinguished themselves in every deed and in all knowl- 
edge come at last to their consummation : the time has 
now arrived at which they must raise the eye of the soul 
to the universal light which lightens all things, and behold 
the absolute good ; for that is the pattern according to 
which they are to order the State and the hves of indi- 
viduals, and the remainder of their own lives also, making 
philosophy their chief pursuit ; but, when their turn comes, 
toiling also at politics and ruling for the public good, not 
as if they were doing some great thing, but of necessity ; 
and when they have brought up others like themselves and 
left them in their place to be governors of the State, then 
they will depart to the Islands of the Blest and dwell 



Educational Theory. Philosophical View 221 

there ; and the city will give them public memorials and 
sacrifices and honour them, if the, Pythian oracle consent, 
as demigods, and at any rate as blessed and divine. 

You are a sculptor, Socrates, and have made statues of 
our governors quite faultless. 

Yes, I said, Glaucon, and of our governesses too ; for 
you must not suppose that what I have been saying applies 
to men only and not to women as far as their natures can 

There you are right, he said, if, as we described, they are 
to have all things in common with the men. 

Well, I said, and you would agree (would you not .■•) that 
what has been said about the State and the government is 
not a mere dream, and although difficult not impossible, but 
only possible in the way which has been supposed ; that is 
to say, when the true philosopher kings, one or more of 
them, are born in a State, despising the honours of this 
present world which they deem mean and worthless, above 
all esteeming right and the honour that springs from right, 
and regarding justice as the greatest and most necessary 
of all things, whose ministers they are, and whose princi- 
ples will be exalted by them when they set in order their 
own city .'' 

How will they proceed } 

They will begin by sending out into the country all the The ideal 
inhabitants of the city who are more than ten years old, ^^^^^ ^° ^^ 
and will take possession of their children, who will be unaf- through 
fected by the habits of their parents ; they will then train education, 
them in their own habits and laws, that is to say, in those 
which we have given them : and in this way the State and 
constitution of which we were speaking will soonest and 
most easily succeed, and the nation which has such a con- 
stitution will be most benefited. 

Yes, that will be the best way. And I think, Socrates, 
that you have very well described how, if ever, such a con- 
stitution might come into being. 

And have we not said enough of the State, and of the 
man who corresponds to the State, for there is no difficulty 
in seeing how we shall describe him .■" 

There is no difficulty, he replied, and I say with you, 
enough. 



222 Source Book of the History of Education 
Selections fro7n the Laws of Plato 

PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE 

An Athenian Stranger. Cleinias, a Cretan. 

Megillus, a Lacedaemonian. 

BOOK 11 



(653-660.) 

Ath. Let me once more recall our doctrine of right 
education ; which, if I am not mistaken, depends on the 
due regulations of convivial intercourse. 

Cle. You talk rather grandly. 

Ath. Pleasure and pain I maintain to be the first per- 
ceptions of children, and I say that they are the forms under 
Nature of which virtue and vice are originally present to them. As 
to wisdom and true and fixed opinions, happy is the man 
who acquires them; even when declining in years ; and he 
who possesses them, and the blessings which are contained 
in them, is a perfect man. Now, I mean by education that 
training which is given by suitable habits to the first instincts 
of virtue in children ; — r when pleasure, and friendship, and 
pain, and hatred, are rightly implanted in souls not yet capa- 
ble of understanding the nature of them, and who find 
them, after they have attained reason, to be in harmony 
with her. This harmony of the soul, when perfected, is 
virtue ; but the particular training in respect to pleasure 
and pain, which leads you always to hate what you ought 
to hate, and love what you ought to love, from the begin- 
ning to the end, may be separated off ; and, in my view, 
will be rightly called education. 

Cle. I think. Stranger, that you are quite right in all 
that you have said and are saying about education. 

Ath. I am glad to hear that you agree with me ; for, 
indeed, the true discipline of pleasure and pain which, 
when rightly ordered, is a principle of education, has been 
often relaxed and corrupted in human life. And the Gods, 
pitying the toils which our race is born to undergo, have 



education. 



\ 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 223 



appointed holy festivals, in which men alternate rest with 
labour; and have given them the Muses and Apollo the 
leader of the Muses, and Dionysus, to be partners in their 
revels, that they may improve what education they have, 
at the festivals of the Gods and by their aid. I should like 
to know whether a common saying is true to nature or not. 
For what men say is that the young of all creatures cannot 
be quiet in their bodies or in their voices ; they are always 
wanting to move, and cry out ; at one time leaping and 
skipping, and overflowing with sportiveness and delight at 
something, and then again uttering all sorts of cries. But, 
whereas other animals have no perception of order or dis- 
order in their movements, that is, of rhythm or harmony, 
as they are called, to us, the Gods, who, as we say, have 
been appointed to be our partners in the dance, have given 
the pleasurable sense of harmony and rhythm ; and so 
they stir us into life, and we follow them and join hands 
with one another in dances and songs ; and these they 
call choruses, which is a term naturally expressive of 
cheerfulness. Shall we begin, then, with the acknowledg- 
ment that education is iirst given through Apollo and the 
Muses .'' What do you say .'' 

Cle. I assent. 

Ath. And the uneducated is he who has not been 
trained in the chorus, and the educated is he who has 
been well trained } 

Cle. Certainly. 

Ath. And the chorus is made up of two parts, dance 
and song '^. 

Cle. True. 

Ath. Then he who is well educated will be able to sing 
and dance well .'* 

Cle. I suppose that he will. 

Let us see ; what are we saying } 
What } 

He sings well and dances well ; now must we add 
that he sings what is good and dances what is good } 

Cle. Let us make the addition. 

Ath. We will suppose that he knows the good to be 
good, and the bad to be bad, and makes use of them ac- 
cordingly : which now is the better trained in dancing and 



Ath. 
Cle. 

Ath. 



Beginnings 
of education 
found in the 
sense for 
harmony. 



Music and 
gymnastic as 
the subject- 
matter of 
education. 



Character of 
the music 
and gym- 
nastic deter- 
mine the 
character of 
the 
education. 



224 Source Book of the History of Education 

music ; — he who is able to move his body and to use his 
voice in what is understood to be the right manner, but has 
no dehght in good or hatred of evil ; or he who is incorrect 
in gesture and voice, but is right in his sense of pleasure 
and pain, and welcomes what is good, and is offended at 
what is evil ? 

Cle. There is a great difference. Stranger, in the two 
kinds of education. 

Ath. If we know what is good in song and dance, then 
we know also who is rightly educated and who is unedu- 
cated ; but if not, then we certainly shall not know wherein 
lies the safeguard of education, and whether there is any or 
not. 

Cle. True. 

Ath. Let us follow the scent like hounds, and go in pur- 
suit of beauty of figure, and melody, and song, and dance ; if 
these escape us, there will be no use in talking about true 
education, whether Hellenic or barbarian. 

Cle. Yes. 

Ath, And what is beauty of figure, or beautiful melody } 
When a manly soul is in trouble, and when a cowardly soul 
is in a similar case, are they likely to use the same figures 
and gestures, or to give utterance to the same sounds .'' 

Cle. How can they, when the very colours of their faces 
differ .? 

Ath. Good, my friend ; I may observe, however, in pass- 
ing, that in music there certainly are figures and there are 
melodies : and music is concerned with harmony and 
rhythm, so that you may speak of a melody or figure hav- 
ing rhythm or harmony ; the term is correct enough, but 
you cannot speak correctly, as the masters of choruses have 
a way of talking metaphorically of the ' colour ' of a mel- 
ody or figure, although you can speak of the melodies or 
figures of the brave and the coward, praising the one and 
censuring the other. And not to be tedious, the figures 
and melodies which are expressive of virtue of soul or 
body, or of images of virtue, are without exception good, 
and those which are expressive of vice are the reverse of 
good. 

Cle. You are right in calling upon us to make that 
division. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 225 

Ath. But are all of us equally delighted with every sort 
of dance ? 

Cle. Far otherwise. 

Ath. And what, then, is the cause of error or division 
among us .'' Are beautiful things not the same to us all, 
or are they the same in themselves, but not in our opinion 
of them } For no one will admit that forms of vice in the 
dance are more beautiful than forms of virtue, or that he 
himself delights in the forms of vice, and others in a muse 
of another character. And yet most persons say, that the 
excellence of music is to give pleasure to our souls. But 
this is intolerable and blasphemous ; there is, however, a 
more plausible account of the delusion. 

Cle. What is that t 

Ath. There is a way of making our likes and dislikes 
the criterion of excellence. Choric movements are imita- 
tions of manners occurring in various actions, chances, 
characters, — each particular is imitated, and those to whom 
the words, or songs, or dances are suited, either by nature 
or habit or both, cannot help feeling pleasure in them and 
applauding them, and calling them beautiful. But those 
whose natures, or ways, or habits are unsuited to them, can- 
not delight in them or applaud them, and they call them 
base. There are others, again, whose natures are right 
and their habits wrong, or whose habits are right'and their 
natures wrong, and they praise one thing, but are pleased 
at another. For they say that certain things are pleasant, 
but not good. And in the presence of those whom they 
think wise, they are ashamed of dancing and singing in the 
baser manner, or of deliberately lending their countenance 
to such proceedings ; and yet, they have a secret pleasure 
in them. 

Cle. Very true. 

Ath. And is any harm done to the lover of vicious dances 
or songs, or any good done to the approver of the opposite 
sort of pleasure } 

Cle. I think that there is. They are to 

Ath. ' I think ' is not the word, but I would say, rather, be deter- 
' I am certain.' For must they not have the same effect "^^"^^ by 
as when a man is in evil company, whom he likes and 1^"^ ^y per-' 
approves rather than dislikes, and only censures them play- sonai choice. 



226 Source Book of the History of Education 

fully as if he has a suspicion of his own badness ? In that 
case, he who takes pleasure in them will surely become 
like those in whom he takes pleasure, even though he be 
ashamed to praise them. And what greater good or evil 
can any destiny ever make us undergo ? 

Cle. I know of none. 

Ath. Then in a city which has or in future ages is to 
have good laws, and where there is a due regard to the 
instruction and amusement which the Muses give, can we 
suppose that the poets are to be allowed to teach in the 
dance anything which the poet himself likes, in the way of 
rhythm, or melody, or words, to the children and youth 
of well-conditioned parents .-' Is he to train his choruses 
as he pleases, without reference to virtue or vice "i 

Cle. That is' surely quite unreasonable, and is not to be 
thought of. 

Ath. And yet he may do this in almost any state with 
the exception of Egypt. 

Cle. And what are the laws about music and dancing 

in Egypt .'' 

Static ideals Ath. You will wonder when I tell you : Long ago they 

of Egyptian appear to have recognised the very principle of which we 

pra^sedTs a ^^^ ^°^ Speaking — that their young citizens must be ha- 

model. bituated to forms and strains of virtue. These they fixed, 

and exhibited the patterns of them in their temples ; and no 

painter or artist is allowed to innovate upon them, or to 

leave the traditional forms and invent new ones. To this day, 

no alteration is allowed either in these arts, or in music at 

all. And you will find that their works of art are painted 

or moulded in the same forms which they had ten thousand 

years ago ; — this is literally true and no exaggeration, — 

their ancient paintings and sculptures are not a whit better 

or worse than the work of to-day, but are made with just 

the same skill. 

Cle. How extraordinary! 

Ath. I should rather say, how wise and worthy of a 
great legislator ! I know that other things in Egypt are 
not so good. But what I am telling you about music is 
true and deserving of consideration, because showing that 
a lawgiver may institute melodies which have a natural 
truth and correctness without any fear of failure. To do 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 227 

this, however, must be the work of God, or of a divine per- 
son ; in Egypt they have a tradition that their ancient chants 
are the composition of the Goddess Isis. And therefore, 
as I was saying, if a person can only find in any way the 
natural melodies, he may confidently embody them in a 
fixed and legal form. For the love of novelty which arises 
out of pleasure in the new and weariness of the old, has not 
strength enough to vitiate the consecrated song and dance, 
under the plea that they have become antiquated. At any 
rate, they are far from being antiquated in Egypt. 

Cle. Your arguments seem to prove your point. 

Ath. May not the true use of music and choral f estivi- Use of music 
ties be described as follows : we rejoice when we think ^^^ *^« 
that we prosper, and again we think that we prosper when ^'^^^' 
we rejoice .-' 

Cle. Exactly. 

Ath. And when rejoicing is our good fortune, we are 
unable to be still .■' 

Cle. True. 

Ath, Our young men break forth into dancing and 
singing, and we who are their elders deem that we are 
fulfilling our part in life when we look on at them. Hav- 
ing lost the agility of youth, we delight in their sports and 
merry-making ; because we love to think of our former 
selves, and gladly institute contests for those who are able 
to awaken in us the memory of what we once were. 

Cle. Very true. 

Ath. People say that we ought to regard him as the 
wisest of men, and the winner of the palm, who gives us 
the greatest amount of pleasure and mirth. For when 
mirth is to be the order of the day, he ought to be 
honoured most, and, as I was saying, bear the palm, who 
gives most mirth to the greatest number. Now I want to 
know whether this is a true way of speaking or of acting .'' 

Cle. Possibly. 

Ath. But, my dear friend, let us distinguish between How the 
different cases, and not be hasty in forming a judgment: criterion of 
One way of considering the question will be to imagine a ^^^ ^^ ^^ 
festival at which there are entertainments of all sorts, determined, 
including gymnastic, musical, or equestrian contests: the 
citizens are assembled, and proclamation is made that any 



Censors of 
music 

should lead, 
not follow, 
public 
opinion. 



-><^prl I 



228 Source Book of the History of Education 

one who likes may enter the lists, and that he is to bear' 
the palm who gives the most pleasure to the spectators — 
there is to be no regulation about the manner how ; but he 
who is most successful in giving pleasure is to be crowned 
victor, and is deemed to be the pleasantest of the candi- 
dates : What is likely to be the result of such a procla- 
mation ? 

Cle. In what respect ? 

Ath. There would be various exhibitions : the Homeric 
bard would exhibit a rhapsody, another a performance on 
the lute ; one would have a tragedy, and another a comedy. 
Nor would there be anything astonishing in some one 
imagining that he could gain the prize by exhibiting a 
puppet-show. Suppose these competitors to meet, and 
not these only, but innumerable others as well, can youi 
tell me who ought to be the victor .-' I 

Cle. I do not see how I can answer you, unless I my- 
self hear the several competitors ; the question is absurd. 

Ath. Well, then, if neither of you can answer, shall I 
answer this question which you deem absurd } 

Cle. By all means. 

Ath. If very small children are to determine the ques- 
tion, they will decide for the puppet-show .-* 

Cle. Of course. 

Ath. The older children will be advocates of comedy ; 
educated women, and young men, and people in general, 
will favour tragedy. 

Cle. Very likely. 

Ath. And I believe that we old men would have the 
greatest pleasure in hearing a rhapsodist recite well the 
Iliad and Odyssey, or one of the Hesiodic poems, and 
would award the victory to him } But, who would really 
be the victor .-• that is the question. 

Cle. Yes. 

Ath. Clearly you and I will be compelled to reply that 
the old men are right ; their way of thinking is far better 
than any other which now prevails in the world. 

Cle. Certainly. 

Ath. Thus far I too should agree with the many, that 
the excellence of music is to be measured by pleasure. 
But the pleasure must not be that of chance persons ; the 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 229 

fairest music is that which dehghts the best and best edu- 
cated, and especially that which delights the one man who 
is pre-eminent in virtue and education. And therefore the 
judges will require virtue — they must possess wisdom and 
also courage ; for the true judge ought not to learn from 
the theatre, nor ought he to be panic-stricken at the 
clamour of the many and his own incapacity ; nor again, 
knowing the truth, ought he through cowardice and un- 
manliness carelessly to deliver a lying judgment, out of the 
very same lips which have just appealed to the Gods 
before he judged. He is sitting not as the disciple of the 
theatre, but, in his proper place, as their instructor, and 
he ought to be the enemy of all pandering to the pleasure 
of the spectators. The ancient and common custom of 
Hellas, which still prevails in Italy and Sicily, did cer- 
tainly leave the judgment to the body of spectators, who 
determined the victor by the show of hands ; yet this cus- 
tom has been the destruction of the poets; — for they are 
now in the habit of composing with a view to please the 
bad taste of their judges, and the result is that the specta- 
tors instruct themselves, which has been the ruin of the 
theatre ; — when they ought to be having characters put 
before them better than their own, and so receiving a 
higher pleasure, they themselves make them inferior. 
Now what is the inference to be deduced from all this } 
Shall I tell you .? 

CLE. What.? 

Ath. The inference at which we arrive for the third Aims of 
or fourth time is, that education is the constraining and education 
directing of youth towards that right reason, which the ^ ^he"^"^ 
law affirms, and which the experience of the best of our experience 
elders has agreed to be truly right. In order, then, that of the race, 
the soul of the child may not be habituated to feel joy and 
sorrow in a manner at variance with the law, and those 
who obey the law, but may rather follow the law and 
rejoice and sorrow at the same things as the aged — in 
order, I say, to produce this effect, songs appear to have 
been invented, which are really charms, and are designed 
to implant that harmony of which we speak. And, 
because the mind of the child is incapable of enduring seri- 
ous training, they are called plays or songs, and are per- 



230 Source Book of the History of Educattoit 



Education 
identical 
with music, 
the dance, 
and gym- 
nastic. 



formed in play ; just as when men are sick and ailing in 
their bodies, their attendants give them wholesome diet in 
pleasant meats and drinks, but unwholesome diet in dis- 
agreeable things, in order that they may learn, as they 
ought, to like the one, and to dislike the other. And simi- 
larly the true legislator will persuade, and, if he cannot 
persuade, will compel the poet to express, as he ought, by 
fair and noble words, in his rhythms, the figures, and in 
his melodies, the music of temperate and brave and in i 
every way good men. . . . (672-673.) The whole choral j 
art is also in our view the whole of education ; and of this J 
art, rhythms and harmonies, having to do with the voice, i 
form a part. 
Cle. Yes. 

Ath. And the movement of the body and the movement 
of the voice have a common form which is rhythm, bu| 
they differ, in that the one is gesture, and the other song. 
Cle. Most true. 

Ath. And the sound of the voice which reaches an^ 
educates the soul, we have ventured to term music. - 

Cle. True. 

Ath. And the movement of the body, which, when 
regarded as an amusement, we termed dancing; when 
pursued with a view to the improvement of the body, 
according to rules of art, may be called gymnastic. 
Cle. Quite true. 

Ath. Music, which was one half of the choral art, may 
be said to have been completely discussed. Shall we pro- 
ceed to the other half or not .'' What would you like ^ 

Cle. My good friend, when you are talking with a 
Cretan and Lacedaemonian, and we have discussed music 
and not gymnastic, what answer are either of us likely to 
make to you .'' 

Ath. That question is pretty much of an answer ; and 
I understand and accept what you say both as an answer, 
and also as a command to proceed with gymnastic. 
Cle. You quite understand me ; do as you say. 
Ath. I will ; and there will be small difficulty in speak- 
ing intelligibly to you about a subject with which both of 
you are far more familiar than with music, 
Cle. That is very true. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 231 

Ath. Is not the origin of gymnastics, too, to be sought Origin of 
in the tendency to rapid motion which exists in all animals ; gymnastic, 
man, as we were saying, having attained the sense of 
rhythm, created and invented dancing ; and melody 
arousing and awakening rhythm, both united formed the 
choral art ? 

Cle. Very true. 



BOOK VII 



children 
from three 
to six. 



(793-823.) 

Ath. Up to the age of three years, whether of boy or Training of 
girl, if a person strictly carries out our previous regulations 
and makes them a principal aim, he will do much for the 
advantage of the young creatures. But at three, four, five, 
and six years the childish nature will require sports ; now 
is the time to get rid of self-will in him, punishing him, 
not so as to disgrace him. As we were saying about 
slaves, that we ought neither to punish them in hot blood 
or so as to anger them, nor yet to leave them unpunished 
lest they become self-willed, a like rule is to be observed 
in the case of the free-born. Children at that age have 
certain natural modes of amusement which they find out 
for themselves when they meet. And all the children 
who are between the ages of three and six ought to 
meet at the temples of the villages, several families of a 
village uniting on one spot, and the nurses seeing that 
the children behave properly and orderly, — they them- 
selves and their whole company being under the care of 
one of the twelve women aforesaid annually appointed out 
of their number by the guardians of the law to inspect 
and order each company. Let the twelve be appointed 
by the women who have authority over marriage, one 
out of each tribe and all of the same age ; and when 
appointed, let them hold office and go to the temples 
every day, punishing all offenders, male or female, who 
are slaves or strangers, by the help of some of the public 
servants; but if any citizen disputes the punishment, let 



232 Source Book of the History of Education 



Instruction 
to begin at 
the sixth 
year. 



Training of 
the hands. 
Ambi- 
dexterity. 



her bring him before the wardens of the city ; or, if there 
be no dispute, let her punish him herself. After the age 
of six years the time has arrived for the separation of the 
sexes, — let boys live with boys, and girls in like manner 
with girls. Now they must begin to learn — the boys 
going to teachers of horsemanship and the use of the 
bow, the javelin, and sling; and if they do not object, let 
women also go to learn if not to practise ; above all, they 
ought to know the use of arms ; for I may note, that the 
practice which now almost universally prevails is due to 
ignorance. 

Cle. In what respect } 

Ath. In this respect, that the right and left hand are 
supposed to differ by nature when we use them ; whereas 
no difference is found in the use of the feet and the lower 
limbs ; but in the use of the hands we are in a manner 
lame, by reason of the folly of nurses and mothers ; for 
although our several limbs are by nature balanced, we 
create a difference in them by bad habit. In some cases 
this is of no consequence, as, for example, when we hold 
the lyre in the left hand, and the plectrum in the right, 
but it is downright folly to make the same distinction in 
other cases. The custom of the Scythians proves our 
error ; for they not only hold the bow from them with the 
left hand and draw the arrow to them with their right, but 
use either hand for both purposes. And there are many 
similar examples in charioteering and other things, from 
which we may learn that those who make the left side 
weaker than the right act contrary to nature. In the case 
of the plectrum, which is of horn only, and similar instru- 
ments, as I was saying, it is of no consequence, but makes 
a great difference, and may be of very great importance to 
the warrior who has to use iron weapons, bows and javelins, 
and the like ; above all, when in heavy armour, he has to 
fight against heavy armour. And there is a very great 
difference between one who has learnt and one who has 
not, and between one who has been trained in gymnastic 
exercises and one who has not been. For as he who is 
perfectly skilled in the Pancratium or boxing or wrestling, 
is not unable to fight from his left side, and does not limp 
and draggle in confusion when his opponent makes him 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 233 



change his position, so in heavy-armed fighting, and in all 
other things, if I am not mistaken, the like holds — he who 
has these double powers of attack and defence ought not 
in any case to leave them either unused or untrained ; and 
if a person had the nature of Geryon ^ or Briareus he 
ought to be able with his hundred hands to throw a hun- 
dred darts. Now, the rulers, male and female, should see 
to all these things ; the women superintending the nursing 
and amusements of the children, and the men superintend- 
ing their education, that all of them, boys and girls alike, 
may be sound in hand and foot, and may not, if they can 
help, spoil the gifts of nature by bad habits. 

Education has two branches, — one of gymnastic, which 
is concerned with the body, and the other of music, which 
is designed for the improvement of the soul. And gym- 
nastic has also two parts — dancing and wrestUng ; and 
one sort of dancing imitates musical recitation, and aims 
at preserving dignity and freedom ; the other aims at pro- 
ducing health, agihty, and beauty of the limbs and parts 
of the body, giving the proper flexion and extension to 
each of them, diffusing and accompanying the harmonious 
motion of the dance everywhere. As regards wrestling, 
the tricks which Antseus and Cercyon devised in their sys- 
tems out of a vain spirit of competition, or the tricks of box- 
ing which Epeius or Amycus invented, are useless for war, 
and do not deserve to have much said about them ; but the 
art of wrestling erect and keeping free the neck and hands 
and sides, working with energy and constancy, with a 
composed strength, and for the sake of health — these are 
always useful, and are not to be neglected, but to be 
enjoined ahke on masters and scholars, when we reach 
that part of legislation ; and we will desire the one to give 
their instructions freely, and the others to receive them 
thankfully. Nor, again, must we omit suitable imitations 
of war in our dances ; in Crete there are the armed sports 
of the Curetes, and in Lacedaemon of the Dioscori. And 
our virgin lady, delighting in the sports of the dance, 



The two 
branches of 
education, — 
music and 
gymnastic. 



Proper 
character of 
gymnastic. 



1 A giant with three bodies and powerful wings, that dwelt in the island of 
Erythia, guarding a herd of cattle. It was one of the labors of Heracles to 
carry off these cattle and slay Geryon. 



234 Source Book of the History of Education 

thought it not fit to dance with empty hands ; she must be 
clothed in a complete suit of armour, and in this attire go 
through the dance ; and youths and maidens should in 
every respect imitate her example, honouring the Goddess 
both with a view to the actual necessities of war, and to 
festive amusements : it will be right also for the boys until 
such time as they go out to war to make processions and 
supplications to the Gods in goodly array, armed and on 
horseback, in dances and marches, fast or slow, offering 
up prayers to the Gods and to the sons of Gods ; and also 
engaging in contests and preludes of contests, if at all, 
with these objects. For these sort of exercises, and no 
others, are useful both in peace and war, and are beneficial 
both to states and to private houses. But other labours 
and sports and excessive training of the body are unworthy 
of freemen, O Megillus and Cleinias. 

I have now completely described the kind of gymnastic 
which I said at first ought to be described ; if you know 
of any better, will you communicate your thoughts .'* 

Cle. It is not easy. Stranger, to put these principles of 
gymnastic aside and to enunciate better ones. 

Ath. Next in order follow the gifts of the Muses and 
of Apollo : before, we fancied that we had said all, and that 
gymnastic alone remained to be discussed ; but now we 
see clearly what points have been omitted, and should be 
first proclaimed; of these, then, let us proceed to speak. 

Cle. By all means. 

Ath. Hear me once more, although you have heard me 
say the same before — that caution must be always exer- 
cised, both by the speaker and by the hearer, about any- 
thing that is singular and unusual. For my tale is one 
which many a man would be afraid to tell, and yet I have 
a confidence which makes me go on. 

Cle. What have you to say. Stranger .-' 
Importance Ath. I say that in states generally no one has observed 
of play m ^-j^at the plays of childhood have a great deal to do with 
the permanence or want of permanence in legislation. For 
when plays are ordered with a view to children having the 
same plays and amusing themselves after the same man- 
ner, and finding delight in the same playthings, the more 
solemn institutions of the state are allowed to remaifi undis- 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 235 



turbed. Whereas if sports are disturbed and innovations Innovations 
are made in them, and they constantly change, and the *° ^^ 
young never speak of their having the same likings, or the 
same established notions of good and bad taste, either in 
the bearing of their bodies or in their dress, but he who 
devises something new and out of the way in figures and 
colours and the like is held in special honour, we may truly 
say that no greater evil can happen in a state; for he who 
changes the sports is secretly changing the manners of the 
young, and making the old to be dishonoured among them 
and the new to be honoured. And I affirm that there is 
nothing which is a greater injury to all states than saying 
or thinking thus. Will you hear me tell how great I deem 
it to be } 

Cle. You mean the evil of blaming antiquity in states } 

Ath. Exactly. 

Cle. If you are speaking of that, you will find in us 
hearers who are disposed to receive what you say not 
unfavourably but most favourably. 

Ath. I should expect so. 

Cle. Proceed. 

Ath. Well, then, let us give all the greater heed to one Importance 
another's words. The argument says that to change from f^^^^^J"^"^*^^* 
anything except the bad is the most dangerous of all 
things ; this is true in the case of the seasons and of the 
winds, in the management of our bodies and the habits of 
our minds — true of all things except, as I said before, of 
the bad. He who looks at the constitution of individuals 
accustomed to eat any sort of meat or drink any drink or 
do any work which they could get, may see that they are 
at first disordered but afterwards, as time goes on, their 
bodies grow adapted to them, and they learn to know and 
like variety, and have good health and enjoyment of life; 
and if ever afterwards they are confined again to a supe- 
rior diet, at first they are troubled with disorders, and with 
difficulty become habituated to their new food. A similar 
principle we may imagine to hold good about the minds of 
men and the nature of their souls. For when they have 
been brought up in certain laws, which by some Divine 
Providence have remained unchanged during long ages, 
50 that no one has any memory or tradition of their ever 



for antiquity. 



236 Source Book of the History of Edtication 



How 

secured by 
the 
Egyptians. 



having been otherwise than they are, then every one is 
afraid and ashamed to change that which is established. 
The legislator must somehow find a way of implanting this 
reverence for antiquity, and I would propose the following 
way : — People are apt to fancy, as I was saying before, 
that when the plays of children are altered they are merely 
plays, not seeing that the most serious and detrimental 
consequences arise out of the change ; and they readily 
comply with the child's wishes instead of deterring him, 
not considering that these children who make innovations 
in their games, when they grow up to be men will be dif- 
ferent from the last generation of children, and, being 
different, will desire a different sort of life, and under the 
influence of this desire will want other institutions and 
laws ; and no one ever apprehends that there will follow 
what I just now called the greatest of evils to states. 
Changes in bodily fashions are no such serious evils, but 
frequent changes in the praise and censure of manners are 
the greatest of evils, and require the utmost prevision, 

Cle. To be sure. 

Ath. And now do we still hold to our former assertion, 
that rhythms and music in general are imitations of good 
and evil characters in men t What say you } 

Cle. That is the only doctrine which I can admit. 

Ath. Must we not, then, try in every possible way to 
prevent our youth desiring imitations and novelties either 
in dance or song .'' nor must any one be allowed to offer 
them varieties of pleasures. 

Cle. Most true. 

Ath. Can any better mode of effecting this object be 
imagined by any of us than that of the Egyptians .'' 

Cle. What is their method } 

Ath. They consecrate every sort of dance or melody, 
first ordaining festivals, — calculating for the year what 
they ought to be, and at what time, and in honour of what 
Gods, sons of Gods, and heroes they ought to be cele- 
brated ; and, in the next place, what hymns ought to be 
sung at the several sacrifices, and with what dances the^ 
particular festival is to be honoured. This is to be arranged 
at first by certain persons, and, when arranged, the whole 
assembly of the citizens are to offer sacrifices and libations 



Edticatio^tal Theory: Philosophical View 237 

to the Fates and all the other Gods, and to consecrate the 
several odes to Gods and heroes : and if any one offers 
any other hymns or dances to any one of the Gods, the 
priests and priestesses, with the consent of the guardians 
of the law, shall religiously and lawfully exclude him, and 
he who is excluded, if he do not submit, shall be liable all 
his life long to have a suit of impiety brought against him 
by any one who likes. 

Cle. Very good. 

Ath. In the consideration of this subject, let us remem- 
ber what is due to ourselves. 

Cle. To what are you referring .-• 

Ath. I mean that any young man, and much more any 
old one, when he sees or hears anything strange or unac- 
customed, does not at once run to embrace the paradox, 
but he stands considering, like a person who is at a place 
where three ways meet, and does not very well know his 
way — he may be alone or he may be walking with others, 
and he will say to himself and them, 'Which is the way } ' 
and will not move forward until he is satisfied that he is 
going right. And this is our case, for a strange discussion 
on the subject of law has arisen, which requires the utmost 
consideration, and we should not at our age be too ready 
to speak about such great matters, or be confident that we 
can say anything certain all in a moment. 

Cle. Most true. 

Ath. Then we will allow time for reflection, and decide 
when we have given the subject sufficient consideration. 
But that we may not be hindered from completing the 
natural arrangement of our laws, let us proceed to the con- 
clusion of them in due order ; for very possibly, if God 
will, the exposition of them, when completed, may throw 
light on our present perplexity. 

Cle. Excellent, Stranger ; let us do as you propose. 

Ath. Let us then affirm the paradox that strains of Music serves 
music are our laws {v6/j-o<;), and this latter being the name 
which the ancients gave to lyric songs, they probably would difiaws''. 
not have very much objected to our proposed application 
of the word. Some one, either asleep or awake, must have 
had a dreamy suspicion of their nature. And let our de- 
cree be as follows : — No one in singing or dancing shall 



as a restrain- 
ing force, as 



238 Source Book of the History of Education 



1 



offend against public and consecrated models, and the 
general fashion among the youth, any more than he would 
offend against any other law. And he who observes this 
law shall be blameless ; but he who is disobedient, as I 
was saying, shall be punished by the guardians of the laws, 
and by priests and priestesses : suppose that we imagine 
this to be our law. 

Cle. Very good. 

Ath. Can any one who makes such laws escape ridi- 
cule .-• Let us see. I think that our only safety will be in 
first framing certain models for them. One of these 
models shall be as follows : — If when a sacrifice is going 
on, and the victims are being burnt according to law, — if, 
I say, any one who may be a son or brother, standing by 
another at the altar and over the victims, horribly blas- 
phemes, will he not inspire despondency and evil omens 
and forebodings in the mind of his father and of his other 
kinsmen .'' 

Cle. Of course. 

Ath. And this is just what takes place in almost all our 
Influence of cities. A magistrate offers a public sacrifice, and there 
come in not one but many choruses, who stand by them- 
selves a little way from the altar, and from time to time 
pour forth all sorts of horrible blasphemies on the sacred 
rites, exciting the souls of the audience with words and 
rhythms, and melodies most sorrowful to hear; and he 
who can at the instant the city is sacrificing make the 
citizens weep most, carries away the palm of victory. 
Now, ought we not to forbid such strains as these } And 
if ever our citizens must hear such lamentations, then on 
some unblest and inauspicious day let there be choruses 
of foreign and hired minstrels, like those who accompany 
the departed at funerals with barbarous Carian chants. 
That is the sort of thing which will be appropriate if we 
have such strains at all ; and let the apparel of the singers 
be not circlets and ornaments of gold, but the reverse. 
Enough of the description. And now I will ask once 
more whether we shall lay down as one of our principles 
of song — 

Cle. What.? 

Ath. That we should avoid every evil word. I need 



music on the 
people 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 239 
hardly ask again, but shall assume that you agree with Music and 

me. poetry shall 

Cle. By all means ; that law is approved by the suf- these\aws? 
frage of all of us. 

'Ath. But what shall be our next musical law or type ? 
Ought not prayers to be offered up to the Gods when we 
sacrifice ? 

Cle. Certainly. 

Ath. And our third law, if I am not mistaken, will be 
to the effect, that our poets understanding prayers to be 
requests which we make to the Gods, will take especial 
heed that they do not by mistake ask for evil instead of 
good. To make such a prayer would surely be too ridicu- 
lous. 

Cle. Very true. 

Ath. Were we not a little while ago quite determined 
that no silver or golden Plutus should dwell in our state } 

Cle. To be sure. 

Ath. And what did this illustration mean } Did we not 
imply that the poets are not always quite capable of know- 
ing what is good or evil .■" And if one of them utters a 
mistaken prayer in song or words, he will make our citi- 
zens pray for the opposite of what is good in matters of 
the highest import ; than which, as I was saying, there 
can be few greater mistakes. Shall we then propose as 
one of our laws and models relating to the Muses — 

Cle. What .-* — will you explain the law more precisely } 

Ath. Shall we make a law that the poet shall compose 
nothing contrary to the ideas of the lawful, or just, or 
beautiful, or good, which are allowed in the state .'' nor 
shall he be permitted to communicate his compositions to 
any private individuals, until he shall have shown them 
to the appointed judges, and the guardiafis of the law, and 
they are satisfied with them. As to the persons whom we 
appoint to be our legislators about music and directors 
of education, they have been already indicated. Once 
more then, as I have asked more than once, shall this be 
our third law, and type, and model — What do you say .'' 

Cle. Yes, by all means. 

Ath. Next it will be proper to have hymns and praises 
of the Gods, intermingled with prayers ; and after the 



240 Source Book of the History of Education 

Gods prayers and praises should be offered in like manner 
to demigods and heroes, suitable to their several characters. 
Cle. Certainly. 

Ath. In the third place there will be no objection to a 
law, that citizens who are departed and have done go'od 
and energetic deeds, either with their souls or with their 
bodies, and have been obedient to the laws, should receive 
eulogies ; this will be very fitting. 
Cle. Quite true. 
Selection of Ath. But to honour with hymns and panegyrics those 
proper music who are Still alive is not safe ; a man should run his course, 
iudees ^"^ ^^^ make a fair ending, and then we will praise him ; and 
let praise be given equally to women as well as men who 
have been distinguished in virtue. The order of songs and 
dances shall be as follows : — There are many ancient 
musical compositions and dances which are excellent, and 
from these the government may freely select what is proper 
and suitable; and they shall choose judges of not less 
than fifty years of age, who shall make the selection, and 
any of the old poems which they deem sufficient they shall 
include ; any that is deficient or altogether unsuitable, 
they shall either utterly throw aside, or examine and 
amend, taking into their counsel poets and musicians, and 
making use of their poetical genius ; but explaining to ^ 
them the wishes of the legislator in order that they may ■ 
regulate dancing, music, and all choral strains, according 
to his mind ; and not allowing them to indulge, except in 
some minor matters, their individual pleasures and fancies. 
Now, the irregular strain of music is always made ten 
thousand times better by attaining to law and order, and 
rejecting the honied Muse — not however that we mean 
wholly to exclude pleasure, which is the characteristic of 
all music. And if a man be brought up from childhood 
to the age of discretion and maturity in the use of the 
orderly and severe music, when he hears the opposite he 
detests it, and calls it illiberal ; but if trained in the sweet 
and vulgar music, he deems the opposite cold and displeas- 
ing. So that, as I was saying before, while he who hears 
them gains no more pleasure from the one than from the 
other, the one has the advantage of making those who are 
trained in it better men, whereas the other makes them worse. 



Edticalional Theory: Philosophical View 241 

Cle. Very true. 

Ath. Again, we must distinguish and determine on Different 
some general principle what songs are suitable to women, selections 

tor men 9.tin 

and what to men, and must assign to them their proper fgj. ^omen. 
melodies and rhythms. It is shocking for a whole har- 
mony to be inharmonical, or for a rhythm to be unrhyth- 
mical, and this will happen when the melody is inappropriate 
to them. And, therefore, the legislator must assign to 
them also their forms. Now, both sexes have melodies 
and rhythms which of necessity belong to them ; and 
those of women are clearly enough indicated by their 
natural difference. The grand, and that which tends to 
courage, may be fairly called manly ; but that which in- 
clines to moderation and temperance, may be declared 
both in law and in ordinary speech to be the more womanly 
quality : this, then, will be the general order of them. 

Let us now speak of the manner of teaching and im- How taught, 
parting them, and the persons to whom, and the time 
when, they are severally to be imparted. As the ship- 
wright first lays down the lines of the keel, and draws the 
design in outline, so do I seek to distinguish the patterns 
of life, and lay down their keels according to the nature 
of different men's souls ; seeking truly to consider by 
what means, and in what ways, we may go through the 
voyage of life best. Now, human affairs are hardly worth 
considering in earnest, and yet we must be in earnest 
about them, — a sad necessity constrains us. And having 
got thus far, there will be a fitness in our completing the 
matter, if we can only find some suitable means of doing 
so. But what am I saying } and yet very probably there 
may be a meaning latent in these very words. 

Cle. To be sure. 

Ath. I say, that about serious matters a man should be For serious 
serious, and about a matter which is not serious he should purposes, 
not be serious ; and that God is the natural and worthy 
object of a man's most serious and blessed endeavours ; 
who, as I said before, is made to be the plaything of God, 
and that this, truly considered, is the best of him ; where- 
fore every man and woman should walk seriously, and 
pass life in the noblest of pastimes, and be of another 
mind from what they now are. 



242 Source Book of the History of Educatioii 



Proper aims 
in life 



determined 
by tradition 
and by 
nature. 



Schools of 

various 

types. 



Cle. In what respect .-' 

Ath. Now they think that their serious pursuits should 
be for the sake of their sports, for they deem war a serious 
pursuit, which must be managed well for the sake of 
peace ; but the truth is, that there neither is, nor has been, 
nor ever will be, either amusement or instruction in any 
degree worth speaking of in war, which is nevertheless 
deemed by us to be the most serious of our pursuits. And 
therefore, as we say, every one of us should live the life 
of peace as long and as well as he can. And what is the 
right way of living.'* Are we to live in sports always.'' If 
so, in what kind of sports } We ought to live sacrificing, 
and singing, and dancing, and then a man will be able to 
propitiate the Gods, and to defend himself against his 
enemies and conquer them in battle. The type of song 
or dance by which he will propitiate them has been de- 
scribed, and the paths along which he is to proceed have 
been cut for him. He will go forward in the spirit of the 
poet : — 

'Telemachus, some things thou wilt thyself find in thy heart, but 
other things God will suggest ; for I deem that thou wast not born or 
brought up without the will of the Gods.' 

And this ought to be the view of our alumni ; they ought 
to think that what has been said is enough for them, and 
that any other things some God or a demigod will suggest 
to them — he will tell them to whom, and when, and to 
what Gods severally they are to sacrifice and perform 
dances, and how they may propitiate the deities, and live 
according to the appointment of nature ; being for the 
most part puppets, but having some little share of reality. 

Meg. You have a low opinion of mankind. Stranger. 

Ath. Nay, Megillus, I was only comparing them with 
the Gods ; and under that feeling I spoke. Let us grant, if 
you wish, that the human race is not to be despised, but 
is worthy of some consideration. 

Next follow the buildings for gymnasia and schools 
open to all ; these are to be in three places in the midst of 
the city ; and outside the city and in the surrounding coun- 
try there shall be schools for horse exercise, and open 
spaces also in three places, arranged with a view to archery 



Educational Theory : Philosophical View 243 

and the throwing of missiles, at which young men may learn 
and practise. Of these mention has already been made ; and 
if the mention be not sufficiently explicit, let us speak 
further of them and embody them in laws. In these 
several schools let there be dwellings for teachers, who 
shall be brought from foreign parts by pay, and let them 
teach the frequenters of the school the art of war and the 
art of music, and the children shall come, not only if their 
parents please, but if they do not please ; and if their edu- 
cation is neglected, there shall be compulsory education, Education 
as the saying is, of all and sundry, as far as this is possible ; should be 
and the pupils shall be regarded as belonging to the state and'thesame 
rather than to their parents. My law would apply to for both 
females as well as males ; they shall both go through the ^^^"' 
same exercises. I assert without fear of contradiction that 
gymnastic and horsemanship are as suitable to women as 
to men. Of the truth of this I am persuaded from ancient 
tradition, and at the present day there are said to be myr- 
iads of women in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, called 
Sauromatides,^ who not only ride on horseback like men, 
but have enjoined upon them the use of bows and other 
weapons equally with the men. And I further affirm, that 
if these things are possible, nothing can be more absurd 
than the practice which prevails in our own country of 
men and women not following the same pursuits with all 
their strength and with one mind, for thus the state, instead 
of being a whole, is reduced to a half, and yet has the 
same imposts to pay and the same toils to undergo ; and 
what can be a greater mistake for any legislator to make } 

Cle. Very true ; and much of what has been asserted 
by us. Stranger, is contrary to the custom of states ; still, 
in saying that the discourse should be allowed to proceed, 
and that when the discussion is completed, we should 
choose what seems best, you have spoken very properly, 
and have made me feel compunction for what I said. Tell 
me, then, what you would next wish to say. 

Ath. I should wish to say, Cleinias, as I said before, 
that if the possibility of these things were not sufficiently 
proven in fact, then there might be an objection to the 
argument, but the fact being as I have said, he who rejects 

^ Scythians, of what is now Southern Russia. 



244 Source Book of the History of Education 



Other ideas 
concerning 
the educa- 
tion of 



the law must find some other ground of objection ; and, 
failing this, our exhortation will still hold good, nor will 
any one deny that women ought to share as far as possible 
in education and in other ways with men, for consider ; — if 
women do not share in their whole life with men, then 
they must have some other order of life. 

Cle. Certainly. 

Ath. And what arrangement of life to be found any- 
where is preferable to this community which we are now 
assigning to them ? Shall we prefer that which is adopted 
by the Thracians and many other races who use their 
women to till the ground and to be shepherds of their 
herds and flocks, and to minister to them like slaves ? Or 
shall we do as we and people in our part of the world do ? 
getting together, as the phrase is, all our goods and chat- 
tels into one dwelling — these we entrust to our women, 
who are the stewards of them ; and who also preside over 
the shuttles and the whole art of spinning. Or shall we 
take a middle course, as in Lacedaemon, Megillus, letting 
the girls share in gymnastic and music, while the grown-up 
women, no longer employed in spinning wool, are actively 
engaged in weaving the web of life, which will be no cheap 
or mean employment, and in the duty of serving and tak- 
ing care of the household and bringing up children in 
which they will observe a sort of mean, not participating 
in the toils of war ; and if there were any necessity that 
they should fight for their city and families, unlike the 
Amazons, they would be unable to take part in archery or 
any other skilled use of missiles, nor could they, after the 
example of the Goddess, carry shield or spear, or stand 
up nobly for their country when it was being destroyed, 
and strike terror into their enemies, if only because they 
were seen in regular order } Living as they do, they 
would never dare at all to imitate the Sauromatides, whose 
women, when compared with ordinary women, would 
appear to be like men. Let him who will, praise your 
legislators, but I must say what I think. The legislator 
ought to be whole and perfect, and not half a man only; 
he ought not to let the female sex live softly and waste 
money and have no order of life, while he takes the ut- 
most care of the male sex, and leaves half of life only 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 245 

blest with happiness, when he might have made the whole 
state happy. 

Meg. What shall we do, Cleinias ">. Shall we allow a 
stranger to run down Sparta in this fashion } 

Cle. Yes ; for as we have given him Hberty of speech 
we must let him go on until we have perfected the work 
of legislation. 

Meg. Very true. 

Ath. Then now I may proceed ? 

Cle. ^By all means. 

Ath. What will be the manner of life among men who Life of 
may be supposed to have their food and clothing provided leisure 
for them in moderation, and who have entrusted the prac- ^^^''^*'^'*' 
tice of the arts to others, and whose husbandry, committed 
to slaves paying a part of the produce, brings them a 
return sufficient for men living temperately ; who, more- 
over, have common tables in which the men are placed 
apart, and near them are the common tables of their fam- 
ilies, of their daughters and mothers, which day by day, 
the rulers, male and female, are to inspect and look to 
their mode of hfe and so dismiss them ; after which the 
magistrate and his attendants shall honour with Hbations 
those Gods to whom that day and night are dedicated, 
and then go home .-' To men whose lives are thus ordered, 
is there no work to be done which is necessary and fitting, 
but shall each one of them live fattening like a beast } 
Such a life is neither just nor honourable, nor can he who 
lives it fail of meeting his due ; and the due reward of the 
idle fatted beast is that he should be torn in pieces by 
some other valiant beast whose fatness is worn down by 
labours and toils. These regulations, if we duly consider 
them, will never perfectly take effect under present cir- 
cumstances, nor as long as women and children and houses 
and all other things are the private property of individuals ; 
but if we can attain the second-best form of polity, with 
that we may be satisfied. And to men living under this 
second polity there remains a work to be accomplished • , , 

i-i-rr 1- 11 •• • r i • i ^" Order to 

which IS far from bemg small or msignihcant, but is the provide 
greatest of all works, and ordained by the appointment of exercise for 
righteous law. For a life which is wholly concerned with the body and 

1- rii 1 1 ii'ii • education 

the Virtue of body and soul may truly be said to be twice, for the soul. 



246 Source Book of the History of Education 

or more than twice, as full of toil and trouble as the pur- 
suit after Pythian ^ and Olympic victories, which debars a 
man from every employment of life. For there ought to 
be no bye-work interfering with the greater work of pro- 
viding the necessary exercise and nourishment for the 
body, and instruction and education for the soul. Night 
and day are not long enough for the accompUshment of 
their perfection and consummation ; and therefore to this 
end all freemen ought to arrange the time of their em- 
ployments during the whole course of the twenty-four 
hours, from morning to evening and from evening to the 
morning of the next sunrise. There may seem to be some 
impropriety in the legislator determining minutely the 
little details of the management of the house, including 
such particulars as the duty of wakefulness in those who 
are to be perpetual watchmen of the whole city ; for that 
any citizen should continue during the whole night in 
sleep, instead of being seen by all his servants, always the 
first to awake and the first to rise — this, whether the 
regulation is to be called a law or only a practice, should 
be deemed base and unworthy of a freeman ; also that the 
mistress of the house should be awakened by her hand- 
maidens instead of herself first awakening them, is what 
her slaves, male and female, and her children, and, if that 
were possible, everything in the house should regard as 
base. If they rise early, they may all of them do much of 
their public and of their household business, as magis- 
trates in the city, and masters and mistresses in their pri- 
vate houses, before the sun is up. Much sleep is not 
required by nature, either for our souls or bodies, or for 
the actions in which they are concerned. For no one who 
is asleep is good for anything, any more than if he were 
dead ; but he of us who has the most regard for life and 
reason keeps awake as long as he can, reserving only so 
much time for sleep as is expedient for health ; and much 
sleep is not required, if the habit of not sleeping be once 
formed. Magistrates in states who keep awake at night 

1 After the Olympic games, the most important of Greek national festivals. 
Held every fourth year at Delphi in honor of Apollo. They consisted of 
musical and gymnastic contests. 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 247 



are terrible to the bad, whether enemies or citizens, and 
are honoured and reverenced by the just and temperate, 
and are useful to themselves and to the whole state. 

A night which is short and devoted to work, in addition 
to all the above-mentioned advantages, infuses a sort of 
courage into the minds of the citizens. When the day- 
breaks, the time has arrived for youth to go to their 
schoolmasters. Now, neither sheep nor any other animals 
can live without a shepherd, nor can children be left with- 
out tutors, or slaves without masters. And of all animals 
the boy is the most unmanageable, inasmuch as he has 
the fountain of reason in him not yet regulated ; he is the 
most insidious, sharp-witted, and insubordinate of animals. 
Wherefore he must be bound with many bridles ; in the 
first place, when he gets away from mothers and nurses, 
he must be under the control of tutors on account of his 
childishness and foolishness ; then, again, being a free- 
man, he must have teachers and be educated by them in 
anything which they teach, and must learn what he has to 
learn ; but he is also a slave, and in that regard any free- 
man who comes in his way may punish him and his tutor 
and his instructor, if any of them does anything wrong; 
and he who comes across him and does not inflict upon 
him the punishment which he deserves, shall incur the 
greatest disgrace ; and let the guardian of the law, who is 
the director of education, see to him who coming in the 
way of the offences which we have mentioned, does not 
chastise them when he ought, or chastises them in a way 
which he ought not ; let him keep a sharp look-out, and 
take especial care of the training of our children, directing 
their natures, and always turning them to good according 
to the law. 

And how can our law sufficiently train the director of 
education himself ; for as yet all has been imperfect, and 
nothing has been said either clear or satisfactory .'' Now, 
as far as possible, the law ought to leave nothing to him, 
but to explain everything, that he may be the interpreter 
and tutor of others. About dances and music and choral 
strains, I have already spoken both as to the character of 
the selection of them, and the manner in which they are 
to be improved and consecrated. But we have not yet 



Difficulties 
of educating 
children. 



1/ 



Training 
and work of 
the teacher. 



248 Source Book of the History of Education 



Period of 
literary 
education; 
of musical 
education. 



spoken, O illustrious guardian of education, of the manner 
in which your pupils are to use those strains which are 
written in prose, although you have been informed what 
martial strain's they are to learn and practise ; what relates 
in the first place to the learning of letters, and secondly, 
to the lyre, and also to calculation, which, as we were 
saying, is needful for them all to learn, and any other 
things which are required with a view to war and the 
management of house and city, and, looking to the same 
object, what is useful in the revolutions of the heavenly 
bodies — the stars and sun and moon, and the various 
regulations about these matters which are necessary for 
the whole state — I am speaking of the arrangements of 
days in periods of months, and of months in years, which 
are to be observed, in order that times and sacrifices and 
festivals may proceed in regular and natural order, and 
keep the city alive and awake, the Gods receiving the 
honours due to them, and men having a better understand- 
ing about them ; all these things, O my friend, have not 
yet been sufficiently declared by the legislator. Attend, 
then, to what I am now going to say : We were telling you, 
in the first place, that you were not sufficiently informed 
about letters, and the objection made was to this effect, — 
'That you were never told whether he who was meant to 
be a respectable citizen should apply himself in detail to 
that sort of learning, or not apply himself at all'; and 
the same remark was made about the lyre. But now we 
say that he ought to attend to them. A fair time for a 
boy of ten years old to spend in letters is three years ; at 
thirteen years he should begin to handle the lyre, and he 
may continue at this for another three years, neither more 
nor less, and whether his father or himself like or dislike 
the study, he is not to be allowed to spend more or less 
time in learning music than the law allows. And let him 
who disobeys the law be deprived of those youthful honours 
of which we shall hereafter speak. Hear, however, first 
of all, what the young ought to learn in the early years of 
life, and what their instructors ought to teach them. They 
ought to be occupied with their letters until they are able 
to read and write ; but the acquisition of perfect beauty 
or quickness in writing, if nature has not stimulated them 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 249 



to acquire these accomplishments in the given number of 
years, they should let alone. And as to the learning of 
compositions committed to writing which are unaccom- 
panied by song, whether metrical or without rhythmical 
divisions, compositions in prose, as they are termed, having 
no rhythm or harmony — seeing how dangerous are the 
writings handed down to us by many writers of this class 
— what will you do with them, O most excellent guardians 
of the law ? or how can the lawgiver rightly direct you about 
them ? I believe that he will be in great difficulty. 

Cle. What troubles you. Stranger ? and why are you Difficulties 
so perplexed in your mind .'' |!^ ^^^ 

Ath. You naturally ask, Cleinias, and to you, who are educ^ation. 
my partners in the work of education, I must state the 
difficulties of the case. 

Cle. To what do you refer in this instance ? 

Ath. I will tell you. There is a difficulty in opposing 
many myriads of mouths. 

Cle. Well, and have we not already opposed the popu- 
lar voice in many important enactments ? 

Ath. That is quite true ; and you mean to imply that 
the road which we are taking may be disagreeable to some 
but is agreeable to as many others, or if not to as many, at 
any rate to persons not inferior to the others, and in com- 
pany with them you bid me, at whatever risk, proceed 
along the path of legislation which has opened out of our 
present discourse, and to be of good cheer, and not to faint. 

Cle. Certainly. 

Ath. And I do not faint ; I say, indeed, that we have Objections 
a great many poets writing in hexameter, trimeter, and all t° ^^^ P^^*®- 
sorts of measures — some who are serious, others who aim 
only at raising a laugh — and all mankind declare that the 
youth who are rightly educated should be brought up and 
saturated with them; they should be constantly hearing 
them read at recitations, and some would have them learn 
by heart entire poets; while others select choice passages 
and long speeches, and make compendiums of them, saying 
that these shall be committed to memory, and that in this 
way only can a man be made good and wise by experience 
and learning. And you want me to say plainly in what 
they are right and in what they are wrong. 



250 Source Book of the History of Education 



Socratic 
dialogues 
the best 
literary sub- 
ject-matter. 



Cle. Yes, I do. 

Ath. But how can I in one word rightly comprehend 
all of them ? I am of opinion, and, if I am not mistaken, 
there is a general agreement, that every one of these poets 
has said many things well and many things the reverse of 
well ; and if this be true, then I do affirm that much learn- 
ing brings danger to youth. 

Cle. Then how would you advise the guardian of the 
law to act .'' 

Ath. In what respect .-' 

Cle. I mean to what pattern should he look as his 
guide in permitting the young to learn some things and 
forbidding them to learn others? Do not shrink from 
answering. 

Ath. My good Cleinias, I rather think that I am fortu- 
nate. 

Cle. In what.-* 

Ath. I think that I am not wholly in want of a pattern, 
for when I consider the words which we have spoken from 
early dawn until now, and which, as I beheve, have been 
inspired by Heaven, they appear to me to be quite hke a 
poem. When I reflected upon all these words of ours, I 
naturally felt pleasure, for of all the discourses which 
I have ever learnt or heard, either in poetry or prose, this 
seemed to me to be the justest, and most suitable for 
young men to hear ; I cannot imagine any better pattern 
than this which the guardian of the law and the educator 
can have. They cannot do better than advise the teachers 
to teach the young these and the like words, and if they 
should happen to find writings, either in poetry or prose, 
or even unwritten discourses like these of ours, and of the 
same family, they should certainly preserve them, and 
commit them to writing. And, first of all, they shall con- 
strain the teachers themselves to learn and approve them, 
and any of them who will not, shall not be employed by 
them, but those whom they find agreeing in their judg- 
ment, they shall make use of and shall commit to them 
the instruction and education of youth. And here and on 
this wise let my fanciful tale about letters and teachers of 
letters come to an end. 

Cle. I do not think, Stranger, that we have wandered 



Educational Theory : Philosophical View 2 5 1 

out of the proposed limits of the argument ; but whether 
we are right or not in the whole design I cannot be very 
certain. 

Atk. The truth, Cleinias, may be expected to become 
clearer when, as we have often said, we arrive at the end 
of the whole discussion about laws. 

Cle. Yes. 

Ath. And now that we have done with the teacher of Principles 
letters, the teacher of the lyre has to receive orders from controlling 

the teacher 
U ^ . , oflhelyre. 

Cle. Certamly. 

Ath. I think that we have only to recollect our previous 
discussions, and we shall be able to give suitable regula- 
tions touching all this part of instruction and education 
to the teachers of the lyre. 

Cle. To what do you refer } 

Ath. We were saying, if I remember rightly, that the 
sixty years' old choristers of Dionysus were to be specially 
quick in their perceptions of rhythm and musical composi- 
tion, that they might be able to distinguish good and bad 
imitation, or in other words, the imitation of the good or 
bad soul when under the influence of passion, rejecting the 
one and displaying the other in hymns and songs, charm- 
ing the souls of youth, and inviting them to follow and 
attain virtue by the way of imitation. 

Cle. Very true. 

Ath. And with this view the teacher and the learner 
ought to use the sounds of the lyre because its notes are 
pure, the player who teaches and his pupil giving note for 
note in unison ; but complexity, and variation of notes, 
when the strings give one sound and the poet or composer 
of the melody gives another ; also when they make con- 
cords and harmonies in which lesser and greater intervals, 
slow and quick, or high and low notes, are combined ; or, 
again, when they make complex variations of rhythms, which 
they adapt to the notes of the lyre, — all that sort of thing 
is not suited to those who have to acquire a speedy and 
useful knowledge of music in three years ; for opposite 
principles are confusing, and create a difficulty in learning, 
and our young men should learn quickly, and their mere 
necessary acquirements are not few or trifling, as will be 



252 Source Book of the History of Education 



Rules 
concerning 
dancing and 
gymnastic. 



Branches of 
gymnastic. 



shown in due course. Let our educator attend to the prin- 
ciples concerning music which we are laying down. As to 
the songs and words themselves which the masters of cho- 
ruses are to teach and the character of them, they hav€ 
been already described by us, and are the same which we 
said were to be consecrated as may suit the several feastsj 
and so furnish an innocent and useful amusement to 
cities. 

Cle. That, again, is true. 

Ath. Then let the musical president who has been 
elected receive these rules from us as the very truth ; and 
may he prosper in his office ! Let us now proceed to lay 
down other rules about dancing and gymnastic exercise in 
general. Having said what remained to be said about the 
teaching of music, let us speak in like manner about gym- 
nastic. For boys and girls ought to learn to dance and 
practise gymnastic exercises — ought they not .'' 

Cle. Yes. 

Ath. Then the boys ought to have dancing masters, 
and the girls dancing mistresses to exercise them. 

Cle. Very good. 

Ath. Then once more let us call him who will have the 
chief trouble, the superintendent of youth ; he will have 
plenty to do, if he is to have the charge of music and gym- 
nastic. 

Cle. But how will an old man be able to attend to such 
great charges .'' 

Ath. O, my friend, there will be no difficulty, for the 
law has already given and will give him permission to select 
as his assistants in this charge any citizens; male or female, 
whom he desires ; and he will know whom he ought to 
choose, and will be anxious not to make a mistake, from a 
sense of responsibility, and from a consciousness of the 
importance of his office, and also because he will consider 
that if young men have been and are well brought up, then 
all things go swimmingly, but if not, it is not meet to say, 
nor do we say, what will follow, lest the regarders of omens 
should take alarm about our infant state. Many things 
have been said by us about dancing and about gymnastic 
movements in general ; for we include under gymnastics 
all military exercises, such as archery, and all hurling of 



Educational Theory: Philosophical Viezu 253 

weapons, and the use of the light shield, and all fighting 
with heavy arms, and military evolutions, and movements 
of armies, and encampments, and all that relates to horse- 
manship. Of all these things there ought to be public 
teachers, receiving pay from the state, and their pupils 
should be the men and boys in the state, and also the girls 
and women, who are to know all these things. While they 
are yet girls they should have practised dancing in arms 
and the whole art of fighting — when they are grown-up 
women, applying themselves to evolutions and tactics, and 
the mode of grounding and taking up arms ; if for no other 
reason, yet in case the whole people should have to leave 
the city and carry on operations of war outside, that the 
young who are left to guard and the rest of the city may 
be equal to the task ; and, on the other hand (what is far 
from being an impossibility), when enemies, whether bar- 
barian or Hellenic, come from without with mighty force 
and make a violent assault upon them, and thus compel 
them to fight for the possession of the city, great would be 
the disgrace to the state, if the women had been so miser- 
ably trained that they could not fight for their young, as 
birds will, against any creature however strong, and die or 
undergo any danger, but must instantly rush to the temples 
and crowd at the altars and shrines, and bring upon human 
nature the reproach, that of all animals man is the most 
cowardly. 

Cle. Such a want of education. Stranger, is certainly 
an unseemly thing to happen in a state, and also a great 
misfortune. 

Ath. Suppose that we carry our law to the extent of 
saying that women ought not to neglect military matters, 
but that all citizens, male and female alike, shall attend 
to them } 

Cle. I quite agree. 

Ath. Of wrestling we have spoken in part, but of what 
I should call the most important part we have not spoken, 
and cannot easily speak without showing at the same time 
by gesture as well as in word what we mean ; when word 
and action combine, and not till then, we shall explain 
clearly what has been said, pointing out that of all move- 
ments wrestling is most akin to the military art, and is to 



254 Source Book of the History of Education 



Dancing. 



Warrior 
dances. 



Dance of 
peace. 



Types to be 
approved; 
their uses. 



be pursued for the sake of this, and not this for the sake 
of wrestling. 
Cle, Excellent. 

Ath. Thus far we have spoken of the palaestra, and we 
will now proceed to speak of other movements of the body. 
Such motion may be in general called dancing, and is of 
two kmds : one of nobler figures, imitating the honourable, 
the other of the more ignoble figures, imitating the mean ; 
and of both these there are two further sub-divisions. Of 
the serious, one kind is of those engaged in war and vehe- 
ment action, and is the exercise of a noble person and a 
manly heart; the other exhibits a temperate soul in the 
enjoyment of prosperity and modest pleasures, and may 
be truly called and is the dance of peace. The warrior 
dance is different from the peaceful one, and may be rightly 
termed Pyrrhic ; this imitates the modes of avoiding blows 
and darts, by dropping or giving way, or springing aside, 
or rismg up or falling down ; also the opposite of postures 
which are those of action, as, for example, the imitation of 
archery and the hurling of javelins, and of all sorts of blows. 
And when the imitation is of brave bodies and souls, and 
the action is direct and muscular, giving for the most part 
a straight movement to the limbs of the body — that, I say, 
is the true sort ; but the opposite is not right. In the dance 
of peace the consideration is whether a man bears himself 
naturally and gracefully, and after the manner of well-con- 
ditioned men. But before proceeding I must distinguish 
the dancing about which there is any doubt, from that about 
which there is no doubt. How shall we distinguish them } 
There are dances of the Bacchic sort, in which they imitate 
as they say, the Nymphs, and Pan, and drunken Silenuses' 
and Satyrs, after whom they name them, making purifica- 
tions and celebrating mysteries, — all this sort of dancing 
cannot be distinguished as having either a peaceful or a 
warlike character, or indeed as having any meaning what- 
ever, and may, I think, be most truly described as distinct 
from the warlike dance, and distinct from the peaceful, and 
not suited for a city at all. Having left this behind us, we 
will now proceed to the dances of war and peace, about 
which there can be no doubt in our state. Now the unwar- 
like muse, which honours in dance the Gods and the sons of 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 255 

the Gods, is associated with the consciousness of prosperity ; 
and this may be sub-divided into classes, of which one is 
expressive of an escape from some labour or danger into 
good, and has greater pleasures ; the other expressive of 
preservation and increase of former good, in which the 
pleasure is less exciting ; — in all these cases, every man 
when the pleasure is greater, moves his body more, and 
less when the pleasure is less ; and, again, if he be more 
orderly and disciplined he moves less ; but if he be a cow- 
ard, and has no training or self-control, he makes greater 
and more violent movements, and in general when he is 
speaking or singing he is not altogether able to control 
his body ; and so out of the imitation of words in gestures 
the art of dancing has originated. And in these various 
kinds of imitation one man moves in an orderly, another 
in a disorderly manner ; and as the ancients may be ob- 
served to have given many names which are according to 
nature and deserving of praise, so there is an excellent one 
which they have given to those dances of men in their times 
of prosperity, who are moderate in their pleasures — who- 
ever he was gave them a very true, and poetical, and rational 
name, when he called them Emmeleiai, or dances of order ; 
thus establishing two kinds of dances of the nobler sort, 
the dance of war which he called the Pyrrhic, and the 
dance of peace which he called Emmeleia, or the dance 
of order ; giving to each their appropriate and becoming 
name. These things the legislator should indicate in gen- 
eral outline, and the guardian of the law should enquire 
into them and search them out, combining dancing with 
music, and assigning to the several sacrificial feasts that 
which is suitable to them ; and when he has consecrated 
them all in due order, he shall for the future change noth- 
\ ing, whether of dance or song. Thenceforward the city 
and the citizens shall continue to have the same pleasures, 
themselves being as far as possible alike, and shall live 
well and happily. 

I have described the dances which are appropriate to Comic 
noble bodies and generous souls. But it is necessary also J^eTJser^ 
to consider and know uncomely persons and thoughts, and ^ot to be 
those which are intended to produce laughter in comedy, indulged in 
and have a comic character both in respect to style, and ^y freemen. 



256 Source Book of the History of Education 



Tragedies 
also to be 
excluded, 
unless per- 
mitted after 
examination 
by the 
magistrates. 



song, and dance, whether real or imitated. For serious 
things cannot be understood without laughable things, nor 
opposites at all without opposites, if a man is really to have 
intelligence of either ; but he cannot carry out both in 
action, if he is to have any degree of virtue. And for this 
very reason he should learn them both, in order that he 
may not in ignorance do or say anything which is ridicu- 
lous and out of place — he should command slaves and 
hired strangers to imitate such things, but he should never 
take any serious interest in them himself, nor should any 
freeman or freewoman be discovered learning them ; and 
there should always be some element of novelty in the 
imitation. Let these then be laid down, both in law and 
in our narrative, as the regulations of laughable amuse- 
ments which are generally called comedy. And, if any of 
the serious or tragic poets, as they are termed, come to us 
and say — ' O strangers, may we go to your city and 
country or may we not, and shall we bring with us our 
poetry — what is your will about these matters.?' How 
shall we answer the divine men } I think that our answer 
should be as follows : — Best of strangers, we will say to 
them, we also according to our ability are tragic poets, and 
our tragedy the best and noblest ; for our whole state is an 
imitation of the best and noblest life, which we affirm to 
be indeed the very truth of tragedy. You are poets and 
we are poets, your rivals and antagonists in the noblest of 
dramas, which true law will carry out in act, as our hope 
is. Do not then suppose that we shall all in a moment 
allow you to erect your stage in the agora, or introduce the 
fair voice of your actors, speaking above our own, and per- 
mit you to harangue our women and children, and the 
mass of mankind, about our institutions, in language other 
than our own, and very often the opposite of our own. 
For a state would be mad which gave you this licence, 
until the magistrates had determined whether your poetry 
might be recited, and was fit for publication or not. 
Wherefore, O ye sons and scions of the softer Muses, first 
of all show your songs to the magistrates, and let them 
compare them with our own, and if they are the same or 
better we will give you a chorus ; but if not, then, my 
friends, we cannot. Let these, then, be the customs 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 257 



ordained by law about all dances and the teaching of them, 
and let matters relating to slaves be separated from those 
relating to masters, if you do not object. 

Cle. We can have no hesitation in assenting when you 
put the matter thus. 

Ath. There still remains three studies suitable for free- 
men. Arithmetic is one of them ; the measurement of 
length, surface, and depth is the second ; and the third has 
to do with the revolutions of the stars in relation to one 
another. Not every one has need to toil through all these 
things in a strictly scientific manner, but only a few, and 
who they are to be, we will hereafter indicate in the proper 
place ; not to know what is necessary for mankind in gen- 
eral, and what is the truth, is disgraceful to every one : 
and yet to enter into these matters minutely is neither 
easy, nor at all possible for every one; but there is some- 
thing in them which is necessary and cannot be set aside, 
and probably he who made the proverb about God origi- 
nally had this in view when he said, 'that not even God 
himself can fight against necessity ' ; — he meant, if I am 
not mistaken, divine necessity ; for as to the human neces- 
sities of which men often speak when they talk in this 
manner, nothing can be more ridiculous than such an 
application of the words. 

Cle. And what necessities of knowledge are there, 
Stranger, which are divine and not human } 

Ath. I conceive them to be those of which he who has 
no use nor any knowledge at all cannot be a God, or 
demi-god, or hero to mankind, or able to take any serious 
thought or charge of them. And very unlike a divine 
man would he be, who is unable to count one, two, three, or 
to distinguish odd and even numbers ; or is unable to 
count at all, or reckon night and day, and who is totally 
unacquainted with the revolution of the sun and moon, 
and the other stars. There would be great folly in sup- 
posing that all these are not necessary parts of knowledge 
to him who intends to know anything about the highest 
kinds of knowledge ; but which these are, and how many 
there are of them, and when they are to be learned, and 
what is to be learned together and what apart, and the 
I whole correlation of them, must be rightly apprehended 



Mathemati- 
cal studies 
for the few. 



Mathe- 
matics the 
basis of the 
highest 
kinds of 
knowledge. 



J 



Extent of 
and method 
of teaching 
arithmetic. 



258 Source Book of the History of Education 

first ; and these leading the way we may proceed to the 
other parts of knowledge. For so necessity grounded in 
nature constrains us, against which we say that no God 
contends, or ever will contend. 

Cle. I think, Stranger, that what you have now said is 
very true and agreeable to nature. 

Ath. Yes, Cleinias, I quite agree with you. But it is 
difficult for the legislator to begin with these studies ; at a 
more convenient time we will make regulations for them. 

Cle. You seem. Stranger, to be afraid of our habitual 
ignorance of the subject : there is no reason why that 
should prevent you from speaking out. 

Ath. I certainly am afraid of the difficulties to which 
you allude, but I am still more afraid of those who apply 
themselves to this sort of knowledge, and apply themselves 
badly. For entire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme 
an evil, and is far from being the greatest of all ; too much 
cleverness and too much learning, accompanied with ill 
bringing up, are far more fatal. 

Cle. True. 

Ath. All freemen, I conceive, should learn as much of 
these branches of knowledge as every child in Egypt is 
taught when he learns his alphabet. In that country arith- 
metical games have been actually invented for the use of 
children, which they learn as a pleasure and amusement. 
They have to distribute apples and garlands, using the 
same number sometimes for a larger and sometimes for a 
lesser number of persons ; and they arrange pugiHsts and 
wrestlers as they pair together by lot or remain over, and 
show the order in which they follow. Another mode of 
amusing them is by distributing vessels, some in which 
gold, brass, silver, and the like are mixed, others in which 
they are unmixed ; as I was saying, they adapt to their 
amusement the numbers in common use, and in this way 
make more intelligible to their pupils the arrangements 
and movements of armies and expeditions, and in the 
management of a household they make people more use- 
ful to themselves, and more wide awake ; and again in 
measurements of things which have length, and breadth, 
and depth, they free us from that natural ignorance of all 
these things which is so ludicrous and disgraceful. 



•I 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 259 

Cle. What kind of ignorance do you mean ? 

Ath. O my dear Cleinias, I, like yourself, have late in 
life heard with amazement of our ignorance in these mat- Need of 
ters ; to me we appear to be more like pigs than men, and mathemati- 
I am quite ashamed, not only of myself, but of all Hellenes, f^^. thg"^^"^ 

Cle. About what t Say, Stranger, what you mean } Greeks. 

Ath. I will ; or rather I will show you my meaning by 
a question, and do you please to answer me : You know, I 
suppose, what length is "i 

Cle, Certainly. 

Ath. And what breadth is } 

Cle. To be sure. 

Ath. And you know that these are two distinct things, 
and that there is a third thing called depth } 

Cle. Of course. 

Ath. And do not all these seem to you to be commen- 
surable with one another } 

Cle. Yes. 

Ath. That is to say, length is naturally commensurable 
with length, and breadth with breadth, and depth in like 
manner with depth .-' 

Cle. Undoubtedly. 

Ath. But if some things are commensurable and others 
wholly incommensurable, and you think that all things are 
commensurable, what is your position in regard to them } 

Cle. Clearly, far from good. 

Ath. Concerning length and breadth when compared 
with depih, or breadth and length when compared with 
one another, are not all the Hellenes agreed that these 
are commensurable with one another in some way t 

Cle. Quite true. 

Ath. But if they are absolutely incommensurable, and 
yet all of us regard them as commensurable, have we not 
reason to be ashamed of our compatriots ; and might we 
not say to them : — O ye best of Hellenes, is not this one 
of the things of which we were saying that not to know 
them is disgraceful, and of which to know only what is 
necessary is no great distinction ? 

Cle. Certainly. 

Ath. And there are other things akin to these, in which 
there springs up other errors of the same family. 



26o Source Book of the History of Education 

Cle. What are they ? 

Ath. The natures of commensurable and incommen- 
surable quantities in their relation to one another. A man 
who is good for anything ought to be able, when he thinks, 
to distinguish them ; and different persons should compete 
with one another in asking questions, which will be a far 
better and more graceful way of passing their time than 
the old man's game of draughts. 

Cle. I dare say ; and these pastimes are not so very 
unlike a game of draughts. 

Ath. And these, as I maintain, Cleinias, are the studies 
which our youth ought to learn, for they are innocent and 
not difficult ; the learning of them will be an amusement, 
and they will benefit the state. If any one is of another 
mind, let him say what he has to say. 

Cle. Of course you are right. 

Ath. Then if these studies are such as we say, we will 
include them ; if not, they shall be excluded. 

Cle. Assuredly : but may we not now. Stranger, pre- 
scribe these studies as necessary, and so fill up the lacunae 
of our laws .-' 

Ath. They shall be regarded as pledges which may be 
refused hereafter by the state, if they do not please either 
us who impose them, or you upon whom they are imposed. 

Cle. a fair condition. 

Ath. Next let us see whether we are wilHng that the 
Astronomy. Study of astronomy shall or shall not be proposed for our 
youth. 

Cle. Proceed. 

Ath. Here occurs a strange phenomenon, which cer- 
tainly cannot in any point of view be tolerated. 

Cle. To what are you referring ? 

Ath. Men say that we ought not to enquire into the 
supreme God and the nature of the universe, nor busy our- 
selves in searching out the causes of things, and that such 
enquiries are impious ; whereas the very opposite is the 
truth. 

Cle. What do you mean .■' 

Ath. Perhaps what I am saying may seem paradoxical, 
and at variance with the usual language of age. But when 
any one has any good and true notion which is for the 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 261 

advantage of the state and in every way acceptable to 
God, he cannot abstain from expressing it. 

Cle. Your words are reasonable enough ; but shall we 
find any good or true notion about the stars ? 

Ath. My good friends, at this day all of us Hellenes 
speak falsely, if I may use such an expression, of those 
great Gods, the Sun and the Moon. 

Cle. What is the falsehood .'' 

Ath. We say that they and divers other stars do not 
keep the same path, and we call them planets or wanderers. 

Cle. Very true, Stranger ; and in the course of my life 
I have often myself seen the morning star and the evening 
star and divers others not proceeding in their own path, 
but wandering out of their path in all manner of ways, and 
I have seen the sun and moon doing what we all know that 
they do. 

Ath. Just so, Megillus and Cleinias, and I maintain that Religious 
our citizens and our youth ought to learn about the nature purpose ir 
of the Gods in heaven, so far as to be able to offer sacri- '^^" ^• 
fices and pray to them in pious language, and not to blas- 
pheme about them. 

Cle. There you are right, if such a knowledge be only 
attainable ; and if we are wrong in our mode of speaking 
now, and can be better instructed and learn to use better 
language, then I quite agree with you that such a degree 
of knowledge as will enable us to speak rightly should, if 
attainable, be acquired by us. And now do you try to ex- 
plain to us your whole meaning, and we, on our part, will 
endeavor to understand you. 

Ath. There is some difficulty in understanding my 
meaning, but not a very great one, nor will any great 
length of time be required ; and of this I am myself a proof ; 
for I did not know these things long ago, nor in the days 
of my youth ; and yet I can explain them to you in a brief 
space of time, whereas if they had been difficult I could 
certainly never have explained them all, old as I am, to old 
men like yourselves. 

Cle. True ; but what is this study which you describe 
as wonderful and fitting for youth to learn, but of which 
we are ignorant .-' Try and explain the nature of it to us as 
clearly as you can. 



262 Source Book of the History of Education 

Ath. I will. For, O my good friends, that other doc- 
trine about the wandering of the sun and the moon and the 
other stars is not the truth, but the very reverse of the truth. 
Each of them moves in the same path — not in many paths, 
but in one only, which is circular, and the varieties arei 
only apparent. Nor are we right in supposing that* 
the swiftest of them is the slowest, nor conversely, that 
the slowest is the quickest. And if what I say is true, . 
only just imagine that we had a similar notion about horses 
running at Olympia, or about men who ran in the long 
course, and that we addressed the swiftest as the slowest 
and the slowest as the swiftest, and sang the praises of the 
vanquished as though he were the victor, — in that case 
our praises would not be true, nor very agreeable to the 
Education of runners, though they be but men ; and now, to commit the 
•'The Laws" same error about the Gods which would have been ludi- 

to tcrniin3.tc _„ i • , n /• 

in religion. ^^^^^ ^"^^ erroneous m the case of men, — is not that ludi- 
crous and erroneous } 

Cle. Worse than ludicrous, I should say. 

Ath. At all events, the Gods cannot like us to be 
spreading a false report of them. 

Cle. Most true, if such is the fact. 

Ath. And if we can show that such is really the fact, 
then all these matters ought to be learned so far as is 
necessary for the avoidance of impiety ; but if we cannot, 
they may be let alone, and let this be our decision. 

Cle. Very good. 

Ath. Enough of laws relating to education and learn- 
ing. But hunting and similar pursuits in like manner 
claim our attention. For the legislator appears to have a 
duty imposed upon him which goes beyond mere legisla- 
tion. There is something over and above law which lies 
in a region between admonition and law, and has several 
times occurred to us in the course of discussion ; for ex- 
arnple, in the education of very young children there were 
things, as we maintain, which are not to be defined, and to 
regard them as matters of positive law is a great absurdity. 
Now, our laws and the whole constitution of our state hav- 
ing been thus delineated, the praise of the virtuous citizen 
is not complete when he is described as the person who 
serves the laws best and obeys them most, but the highest 



Educational Theory: Philosophical View 263 

form of praise is that which describes him as the good 
citizen who goes through life undefiled and is obedient to 
the words of the legislator, both when he is giving laws 
and when he assigns praise and blame. This is the truest 
word that can be spoken in praise of a citizen ; and the 
true legislator ought not only to write his laws, but also to 
interweave with them all such things as seem to him 
honourable and dishonourable. And the perfect citizen 
ought to seek to strengthen these no less than the princi- 
ples of law which are sanctioned by punishments. I will 
adduce 'an example which will clear up my meaning. 
Hunting is of wide extent, and has a name under which Hunting as 
many things are included, for there is a hunting of crea- J^^^^^j^j^^^j 
tures in the water, and of creatures in the air ; and there is \^^l 
a great deal of hunting of land animals of all sorts, and 
not of wild beasts only; the hunting after man is also 
worthy of consideration ; there is the hunting after him in 
war, and there is often a hunting after him in the way of 
friendship, which is praised and also blamed ; and there 
is thieving, and the hunting which is practised by robbers, 
and that of armies against armies. Now the legislator, in 
laying down laws about hunting, can neither abstain from 
noting these things, nor can he make threatening ordi- 
nances which will assign rules and penalties about all of 
them. What is he to do } He will have to praise and 
blame hunting with a view to the discipline and exercise of 
youth. And, on the other hand, the young man must 
listen obediently ; neither pleasure nor pain should hinder 
him, and he should regard as his standard of action the 
praises and injunctions of the legislator rather than the 
punishments which he imposes by law. This being pre- 
mised, there will follow next in order moderate praise and 
censure of hunting; the praise being assigned to that 
which will make the souls of young men better, and the 
censure to that which has the opposite effect. And now 
let us address young men in the form of a pious wish for 
their welfare : O, my friends, we will say to them, may no Kinds of 
desire or love of hunting in the sea, or of angling or of f^^^jjflgn^ 
catching the creatures in the sea, ever take possession 
of you, either when you are awake or when you are asleep, 
by hook or with weels, which latter is a very lazy contri- 



264 Source Book of the History of Education 

vance; and let not any desire of catching men and of piracy 
by sea enter into your souls and make you cruel and law- 
less hunters. And as to the desire of thieving in town or 
country, may it never enter into your most passing 
thoughts ; nor let the insidious fancy of catching birds, 
which is hardly worthy of freemen, come into the head of 
any youth. There remains therefore for our athletes only 
the hunting and catching of land animals, of which the 
one sort is called hunting by night, in which the hunters 
sleep in turn and are lazy ; this is not to be commended any 
more than that which has intervals of rest, in which the 
wild strength of beasts is subdued by nets and snares, 
and not by the victory of a laborious spirit. Thus, only 
the best kind of hunting is allowed at all — that of quad- 
rupeds, which is carried on with horses and dogs and men's 
own persons, and they get the victory over the animals by 
running them down and striking them and hurling at them, 
those who have a care of godlike manhood taking them 
with their own hands. The praise and blame which is 
assigned to all these things has now been declared ; and 
The law let the law be as follows : Let no one hinder our sacred 
concerning hunters from following the chase wherever and whitherso- 
un ing. ^^^^^ ^j^^y ^.^ . ^^^ ^^ nightly hunter, who trusts to his 
nets and springs, shall not be allowed to hunt anywhere. 
The fowler in the mountains and waste places shall be per- 
mitted, but on cultivated ground and on consecrated wilds 
he shall not be permitted ; and any one who meets him 
may stop him. As to the hunter in waters, he may hunt 
anywhere except in harbours or sacred streams or marshes 
or pools, provided only that he do not trouble the water 
with poisonous mixtures. And now we may say that all 
our enactments about education are complete. 
Cle. Very good. 



VI. THE SCIENTIFIC VIEW OF EDUCATION 

The Period and the Authority. — Aristotle was the last 
of the great contributors to Greek educational theory, and 
his life (384-322 B.C.) forms a connecting hnk between 
the earlier theorists and the later cosmopolitan period 
which begins with the Macedonian supremacy. In phi- 
losophy Aristotle represents the culmination of the move- 
ment which passed through successive stages with the 
Sophists, Socrates and Plato. In his specific treatment 
of the subject of education he makes no great advance 
beyond Plato, though in later ages educational method 
and subject-matter are profoundly influenced through the 
Organon and Metaphysics. It is only with this specific 
treatment of education, in which he presents his own 
views, that the present discussion deals. 

The adult life of Aristotle falls into three periods. The 
first is that from the seventeenth to the thirty-seventh 
years of his life, during which time he was under the in- 
struction of Plato, or closely connected with the work of 
the Academy. Then it was that he showed opposition 
to the teachings of the master. Some of Aristotle's writ- 
ings not now extant raise for debate the chief doctrine of 
the Platonic school, though the form of these writings is 
supposed to have been wholly in imitation of that of the 
master of the dialogue. This lack of orthodoxy and per- 
haps of intellectual sympathy led Aristotle to leave 
Athens at the death of Plato in 347 B.C., and for twelve 

265 



266 Source Book of the History of Education 

years thereafter, in Asia Minor and Macedonia, he devoted 
himself to study and investigation. Some portion of the 
latter years of this period was devoted to the education 
of the young Alexander. While there are absolutely no 
details left to modern times concerning the nature of 
these duties and the manner in which they were per- 
formed, it has been suggested that Aristotle's chief in- 
fluence on Greek education was through instilling into 
the mind of the future conqueror the ideas that led to 
the Hellenization of the East. Certain it is that the 
scheme of education outlined in the Politics is for the 
narrow limit of the city state, and that it was a scheme 
which had little or no immediate practical influence on 
Greek life. In 335 Aristotle returned to Athens to es- 
tablish in the Lyceum his own school of philosophy, 
since the contrast between his own thought and that of 
the Academicians had now become more marked, both 
because his own ideas and method had developed, and be- 
cause the work of the Academy had now degenerated 
into mere exposition and comment. Here he continued 
to teach for eighteen years. The aim of Aristotle was 
broader than that of the Platonic or of the other schools ; 
it was nothing less than to produce an encyclopaedia of all 
the sciences, — an organization of all human knowledge. 
During this period was produced the substance of the 
Aristotelian writings as we know them now. The char- 
acter, order, and origin of these writings are all matters 
of debate. Leaving out of the question the pseudo-Aris- 
totelian productions, it is generally admitted that not one 
of the works as we now have them is complete ; that 
some of them are rather compilations or combinations of 
monographs than continuous treatises ; that some contain 



•I 



Theory of Education : Scientific View 267 

parts or whole chapters that are mere summaries by pupils ; 
that some are probably nothing more than very full notes 
taken by students at Aristotle's lectures. Even concerning 
the work of immediate interest to us, Jowett suggests that 
" we cannot be sure that any single sentence of the Politics 
proceeded from the pen of Aristotle." The whole ques- 
tion of authorship is complicated by the fact that the list of 
the 146 Aristotehan writings, made by the librarian of the 
great library at Alexander about 220 B.C., does not contain 
the name of a single one of his works, at least under the 
title by which we now know them. On the other hand, 
concerning the accepted works, it is quite as generally 
admitted that the substance, the spirit and the general 
form, if not the exact wording, are wholly Aristotelian. 
Where the efforts of the school supplemented those 
of the master, they were wholly under the dominance 
and direction of the latter, so that the same may be said 
of resulting collaborations. The fragmentary condition 
of some of the work, such as the treatment of education, 
is undoubtedly due to the fact that Aristotle purposely 
left the theme incomplete in presentation, with the ex- 
pectation, and in some places with the explicit promise, 
of a return to the subject. This incompleteness, as well 
as the form in which some of the works have come down 
to us, is due to the manner of publication. This consisted 
merely in presentation through lectures in the schools, with 
the multiphcation of texts through notes or more exact 
copies. It was therefore a process continuing over a con- 
siderable space of time, rather than an event of a given 
date. That during the period of publication the author's 
ideas would develop is evidenced by the Republic and the 
Laws, as well as by the Politics. At Aristotle's death it 



268 Source Book of the History of Education 

appears that the work of the Peripatetic school consisted 
largely in collecting and editing the master's works, and in 
some respects in completing them by a combination of frag- 
ments. The interest of the school was largely in those works 
of the philosopher produced during his headship of the 
Lyceum. There does not seem to have been any such 
multiplication of copies of the works as was the case 
with the other philosophical schools. Some thirty-five 
years after the death of Aristotle, the head of the school, 
who fell heir to the works, removed them to Asia Minor. 
Shortly after this, to save them from destruction, they 
were hidden in a vault, and there remained lost to the 
world until recovered a century and a half later. They 
were then restored to Greece and later transferred to 
Rome. This indicates in part the reason why these edu- 
cational writings had no immediate influence upon Greek 
education. 

The Politics contains Aristotle's specific treatment of edu- 
cation in the main ; though the discussions of the general 
purpose of education could be supplemented with selections 
from the Ethics, and the discussion of the place of litera- 
ture in education with selections from the Poetics. It is 
indicative of the importance of the subject of education in 
Grecian thought that it should form an integral part of the 
science of politics, — a fact to be gathered from the Re- 
public and the Laivs, as well as from the Politics. The 
Politics differs from the Republic and the Laws in being 
primarily a scientific investigation in comparative politics. 
In addition to being an inductive study based on his pre- 
vious collection of constitutions, now lost, it contains 
many views that are simply a part of the ordinary aris- 
tocratic view of the Grecians, especially of those not in 



Theory of Educatio7i: Scientific View 269 

sympathy with the Athenians, and other views, largely 
metaphysical, that are made to appear scientific by refer- 
ring them to "nature." The discussion of education, how- 
ever, is for the most part a scientific exposition of the 
actual practices of Greek states, especially the Athenian, 
tested by Aristotle's standard of the natural. This stand- 
ard, while in form often metaphysical, is nevertheless de- 
rived from a wide comparative study of existing practices. 

Aristotle holds that there are three normal forms of 
government, — monarchy, aristocracy, and the constitu- 
tional or republican ; and that there are perversions of 
each. Of the three he holds that the monarchical is best 
if not perverted, but that it is the most liable to abuse ; 
that the repubhcan is least liable to perversion, and 
hence the one to be recommended. It is for this best 
practicable form of government that he elaborates his ap- 
proved scheme of education. One must bear in mind the 
fact that the state is still the very restricted city state of the 
Greeks. Aristotle sees the possibility of the larger nation 
and of the confederacy ; but both of these have for their aims 
mere expediency, while the city state alone can aim at vir- 
tue. As a further essential to this ideal state the industrial 
and commercial classes, as well as the slave population, 
are excluded from citizenship. Only those who are re- 
lieved from the necessity of all economic activities can 
become good citizens. Those engaged in the practical or 
industrial life are to be educated by participation in the 
occupations which they are to follow, — in other words, 
by apprenticeship. All such persons need a practical 
education only, and a practical education calls for a train- 
ing, but for no instruction. 

The only education discussed in the Politics is the liberal 



270 Source Book of the History of Education 

education necessary as a preparation for citizenship in this 
state wherein all citizens are successively ruled and rulers. 
It is from this thought of the interchange of rulers and 
ruled that the consideration of education departs. The 
remainder of the seventh and all of the eighth book are 
devoted to this discussion, which, however, is only frag- 
mentary. Education in infancy and childhood are treated 
of, but the passage closes without any mention of the most 
important phase of education, that of the immediate prepa- 
ration of youth for citizenship. This is the stage of edu- 
cation concerning which there was then the greatest interest, 
and in which there had occurred the most radical changes. 
Either the latter portion of the treatise has been lost to 
modern times, or the author left it incomplete, with the 
expectation of returning to the subject. 

On the training of infancy, the views of Aristotle do not 
depart materially from the approved custom at Athens or 
from the views of Plato, though he rejects the commu- 
nistic scheme and insists upon the importance of the family. 
Of the physical well-being of the child, great care is to be 
taken, this care extending even to prenatal regulations. 
The child's morals are to be well guarded in various 
ways, amongst others by exclusion from contact with public 
life, and by the care of pedagogues and of guardians 
of public education — an institution borrowed from the 
Spartans. Concerning the education of childhood and 
youth, the periods from seven to fourteen and from fourteen 
to twenty, Aristotle again is substantially in accord with 
accepted Grecian practices. The greater part of the eighth 
book is devoted to a discussion of gymnastic and music as 
the component parts of the curriculum. The views here 
expressed are essentially those of the thoughtful Greek. 



i 



Theory of Education: Scientific View 271 

Neither gymnastic nor music should aim to produce the 
expert, but should be wholly liberalizing in their purpose. 
This exposition is the clearest statement to be found of the 
use of music in Greek education. The approved uses are 
for instruction, for purgation, and for leisure and recrea- 
tion. To music and gymnastic are added drawing and 
letters as component parts of the curriculum, though little 
consideration is accorded either. In regard to letters 
Aristotle rejects the conclusions of Plato concerning Homer 
and the drama, but he fails to give any presentation of his 
own ideas concerning the proper scope of Hterary instruc- 
tion. This omission is one of the best evidences of the 
fragmentary nature of the Politics. In all probability he 
would have made letters include the remainder of the 
liberal arts, thus completing the Hberal education so far as 
it related to institutionalized instruction. 

No correct concept of Aristotle's views of education can 
be gained, unless it be recognized that, as with Plato and 
Greek thinkers in general, the state itself is by him identi- 
fied with education. The state is not only the end of 
education but, in every detail, a means to education. 
While Aristotle has no place for the guardians of the 
Platonic state, and consequently no elaborate philosophical 
education looking to the production of such a class, yet 
civic and military activities are to be organized for educa- 
tional ends, and the -education of the citizen does not 
cease until he has fully participated therein. These social 
activities are of two general classes : the one practical and 
executive, the other deliberative and advisory. After the 
age of twenty-one the young men are to engage in active 
civic and military duties. With their growing experience 
these are gradually to be exchanged for those that are 



Education as 
the basis 
of stable 
government. 



272 Source Book of the History of Education 

advisory and judicial. Much of this time is to be spent in 
cultured leisure, and finally all of it is to be devoted to the 
life of contemplation. In this way the end of the state, as 
found in the happiness of the individuals composing it, is 
to be attained. This happiness of the individual is largely 
intellectual. Thus the problem of Greek politics and 
education is solved by the gradual development into the 
contemplative or intellectual life; neither is to be separated 
from the activities essential to the welfare of the state. 



Selections from the Politics of Aristotle 

BOOK V 



I 



9. But of all the things which I have mentioned that 
which most contributes to the permanence of constitutions is 
the adaptation of education to the form of government, and 
yet in our own day this principle is universally neglected. 
The best laws, though sanctioned by every citizen of the 
state, will be of no avail unless the young are trained by 
habit and education in the spirit of the constitution, if the 
laws are democratical, democratically, or oligarchically, if 
the laws are oligarchical. For there may be a want of 
self-discipline in states as well as in individuals. Now, to 
have been educated in the spirit of the constitution is not 
to perform the actions in which oligarchs or democrats 
delight, but those by which the existence of an oligarchy 
or of a democracy is made possible. Whereas among 
ourselves the sons of the ruling class in an oligarchy live 
in luxury, but the sons of the poor are hardened by exer- 
cise and toil, and hence they are both more inclined and 
better able to make a revolution. And in democracies 
of the more extreme type there has arisen a false idea of 
freedom which is contradictory to the true interests of the 
state. For two principles are characteristic of democracy, 
the government of the majority and freedom. Men think 
that what is just is equal ; and that equality is the suprem- 
acy of the popular will ; and that freedom and equality 



Theory of Education : Scientific View 2 7 



/v) 



mean the doing what a man likes In such democracies 
every one Hves as he pleases, or in the words of Euripides, 
'according to his fancy.' But this is all 'wrong; men 
should not think it slavery to live according to the rule of 
the constitution ; for it is their salvation. 



BOOK VII 



13. It follows then from what has been said that some Virtue and 
things the legislator must find ready to his hand in a state, goodness 
others he must provide. And therefore we can only say : depend*^ 
May our state be constituted in such a manner as to be upon virtue 
blessed with the goods of which fortune disposes (for we ^"^ S°"'^" 
acknowledge her power) : whereas virtue and goodness in "ndfvidual 
the state are not a matter of chance but the result of knowl- citizens, 
edge and purpose. A city can be virtuous only when the 
citizens who have a share in the government are virtuous, 

and in our state all the citizens share in the government ; 
let us then enquire how a man becomes virtuous. For 
even if we could suppose all the citizens to be virtuous, 
and not each of them, yet the latter would be better, for 
in the virtue of each the virtue of all is involved. 

There are three things which make men good and vir- Three 
tuous : these are nature, habit, reason. In the first place, elements of 
every one must be born a man and not some other animal ; (\\ nature 
in the second place, he must have a certain character, (2) habit, 
both of body and soul. But some qualities there is no use (3) reason, 
in having at birth, for they are altered by habit, and there 
are some gifts of nature which may be turned by habit to 
good or bad. Most animals lead a life of nature, although 
in lesser particulars some are influenced by habit as well. 
Man has reason, in addition, and man only. Wherefore 
nature, habit, reason must be in harmony with one another 
(for they do not always agree); men do many things against 
habit and nature, if reason persuades them that they ought. 
We have already determined Avhat natures are likely to be 
most easily moulded by the hands of the legislator. All 
else is the work of education ; we learn some things by 
habit and some by instruction. 

14. Since every political society is composed of rulers 



2 74 Source Book of the History of Education 



Rulers and 
ruled are to 
interchange. 



Relation to 
education. 
All must 
know both 
how to com- 
mand and 
how to obey. 



and subjects, let us consider whether the relations of one 
to the other should interchange or be permanent. For the 
education of the citizens will necessarily vary with the 
answer given to this question. Now, if some men excelled 
others in the same degree in which gods and heroes are 
supposed to excel mankind in general, having in the first 
place a great advantage even in their bodies, and secondly 
in their minds, so that the superiority of the governors 
over their subjects was patent and undisputed, it would 
clearly be better that once for all the one class should rule 
and the others serve. But since this is unattainable, and \ 
kings have no marked superiority over their subjects, such as ' 
Scylax^ affirms to be found among the Indians, it is obviously ' 
necessary on many grounds that all the citizens alike should 
take their turn in governing and being governed. Equal- 
ity consists in the same treatment of similar persons, and 
no government can stand which is not founded upon justice. 
For (if the government be unjust) every one in the coun- 
try ^ unites with the governed in the desire to have a revo- 
lution, and it is an impossibility that the members of the 
government can be so numerous as to be stronger than all 
their enemies put together. Yet that governors should 
excel their subjects is undeniable. How all this is to be 
effected, and in what way they will respectively share inij 
the government, the legislator has to consider. The sub- I 
ject has been already mentioned. Nature herself has 
given the principle of choice when she made a difference 
between old and young (though they are really the same 
in kind), of whom she fitted the one to govern and the 
others to be governed. No one takes offence at being 
governed when he is young, nor does he think himself 
better than his governors, especially if he will enjoy the 
same privilege when he reaches the required age. 

We conclude that from one point of view governors and 
governed are identical, and from another different. And 
therefore their education must be the same and also differ- 
ent. For he who would learn to command well must, as 
men say, first of all learn to obey. As I observed in the 

* An ancient geographer; of. Herodotus, IV. 44. '] 

* I.e. the perioeci. 



Theory of Education: Scientific View 275 

first part of this treatise, there is one rule which is for the 
sake of the rulers and another rule which is for the sake 
of the ruled ; the former is a despotic, the latter a free 
government. Some commands differ not in the thing 
commanded, but in the intention with which they are 
imposed. Wherefore, many apparently menial offices are 
an honour to the free youth by whom they are performed ; 
for actions do not differ as honourable or dishonourable 
in themselves so much as in the end and intention of ^ 
them. But since we say that the virtue of the citizen 
and ruler is the same as that of the good man, and 
that the same person must first be a subject and then a 
ruler, the legislator has to see that they become good men, 
and by what means this may be accomplished, and what is 
the end of the perfect life. 

Now the soul of man is divided into two parts, one of Two parts of 
which has reason in itself, and the other, not having rea- ^^^ '^°^'' 
son in itself, is able to obey reason. And we call a man be\ought°in 
good because he has the virtues of these two parts. In reason, 
which of them the end is more likely to be found is no 
matter of doubt to those who adopt our division ; for in 
the world both of nature and of art the inferior always 
exists for the sake of the better or superior, and the better 
or superior is that which has reason. The reason too, in 
our ordinary' way of speaking, is divided into two parts for 
there is a practical and a speculative reason, and there must 
be a corresponding division of actions ; the actions of the 
naturally better principle are to be preferred by those who 
have it in their power to attain to both or to all, for that 
is always to every one the most eligible which is the high- 
est attainable by him. The whole of life is further divided 
into two parts, business and leisure, war and peace, and all 
actions into those which are necessary and useful, and 
those which are honourable. And the preference given Two classes 
to one or the other class of actions must necessarily be like of actions 
the preference given to one or other part of the soul and responding ' 
its actions over the other ; there must be war for the sake kinds of 
of peace, business for the sake of leisure, things useful ^'{^l'^f^'°" ' , 
and necessary for the sake of things honourable. All \ \^lx. ^ 
these points the statesman should keep in view when he 
frames his laws ; he should consider the parts of the soul 



276 Sotirce Book of the History of Education 



Inadequacy 
of the 
Spartan 
education, 
which 
trained for 
the lower. 



The military 
ideal is 
inadequate 
and is use- 
less in peace. 



and their functions, and above all the better and the end ; 
he should also remember the diversities of human lives 
and actions. For men must engage in business and go to 
war, but leisure and peace are better ; they must do what 
is necessary and useful, but what is honourable is better. 
In such principles children and persons of every age which 
requires education should be trained. Whereas even the 
Hellenes of the present day, who are reputed to be best 
governed, and the legislators who gave them their consti- 
tutions, do not appear to have framed their governments 
with a regard to the best end, or to have given them laws 
and education with a view to all the virtues, but in a vul- 
gar spirit have fallen back on those which promised to be 
more useful and profitable. Many modern writers have 
taken a similar view : they commend the Lacedaemonian 
constitution, and praise the legislator for making conquest 
and war his sole aim, a doctrine which may be refuted by 
argument and has long ago been refuted by facts. For 
most men desire empire in the hope of accumulating the 
goods of fortune ; and on this ground Thibron and all 
those who have written about the Lacedaemonian constitu- 
tion have praised their legislator, because the Lacedae- 
monians, by a training in hardships, gained great power. 
But surely they are not a happy people now that their 
empire has passed away, nor was their legislator right. 
How ridiculous is the result, if, while they are continuing 
in the observance of his laws and no one interferes with 
them, they have lost the better part of life. These writers 
further err about the sort of government which the legis- 
lator should approve, for the government of freemen is 
noble, and implies more virtue than despotic government. 
Neither is a city to be deemed happy or a legislator to be 
praised because he trains his citizens to conquer and 
obtain dominion over their neighbours, for there is great 
evil in this. On a similar principle any citizen who could, 
would obviously try to obtain th&- power in his own state, 
— the crime which the Lacedaemonians accuse king Pau- 
sanias of attempting, although he had so great honour 
already. No such principle and no law having this object 
is either statesmanlike cff' useful or right. For the same 
things are best both for individuals and for states, and 



Theory of Education : Scientific View 277 

these are the things which the legislator ought to implant 
in the minds of his citizens. Neither should men study- 
war with a view to the enslavement of those who do not 
deserve to be enslaved ; but first of all they should provide 
against their own enslavement, and in the second place 
obtain empire for the good of the governed, and not for the 
sake of exercising a general despotism, and in the third 
place they should seek to be masters only over those who 
deserve to be slaves. Facts, as well as arguments, prove 
that the legislator should direct all his miUtary and other 
measures to the provision of leisure and the establishment 
of peace. For most of these military states are safe only 
while they are at war, but fall when they have acquired 
their empire ; lilfe unused iron they rust in time of peace. 
And for this the legislator is to blame, he never having 
taught them how to lead the Ufe of peace. 

1 5. Since the end of individuals and of states is the same, War is for 
the end of the best man and of the best state must also be *^^ ^^^^ °*^ 
the same ; it is therefore evident that there ought to exist business for 
in both of them the virtues of leisure ; for peace, as has the sake of 
often been repeated, is the end of war, and leisure of toil, leisure. 
But leisure and cultivation may be promoted, not only by 
those virtues which are practised in leisure, but also by 
some of those which are useful to business. For many 
necessaries of life have to be supplied before we can have 
leisure. Therefore a city must be temperate and brave, 
and able to endure ; for truly, as the proverb says, ' There 
is no leisure for slaves,' and those who cannot face danger 
like men are the slaves of any invader. Courage and endur- 
ance are required for business and philosophy for leisure, 
temperance and justice for both, more especially in times 
of peace and leisure, for war compels men to be just and 
temperate, whereas the enjoyment of good fortune and the 
leisure which comes with peace tends to make them inso- 
lent. Those then, who seem to be the best-off and to be 
in the possession of every good, have special need of jus- 
tice and temperance, — for example, those (if such there 
be, as the poets say) who dwell in the Islands of the Blest ; 
they above all will need philosophy and temperance and 
justice, and all the more the more leisure they have, living in 
the midst of abundance. There is no difficulty in seeing 



278 Source Book of the History of Education 



The highest 
goods not 
the result of 
a single 
virtue, — 
courage. 



The educa- 
tion of the 
body pre- 
cedes that of 
the mind; 
and the for- 
mation of 
habit 
precedes 
instruction. 



why the state that would be happy and good ought to have 
these virtues. If it be disgraceful in men not to be able 
to use the goods of life, it is peculiarly disgraceful not to 
be able to use them in time of peace, — to show excellent 
qualities in action and war, and when they have peace and 
leisure to be no better than slaves. Wherefore we should 
not practise virtue after the manner of the Lacedaemonians. 
For they, while agreeing with other men in their concep- 
tion of the highest goods, differ from the rest of mankind 
in thinking that they are to be obtained by the practice of 
a single virtue. And since these goods and the enjoyment 
of them are clearly greater than the enjoyment derived 
from the virtues of which they are the end, we must now 
consider how and by what means they are to be attained. 

We have already determined that nature and habit and 
reason are required, and what should be the character of 
the citizens has also been defined by us. But we have 
still to consider whether the training of early life is to be 
that of reason or habit, for these two must accord, and 
when in accord they will then form the best of harmonies. 
Reason may make mistakes and fail in attaining the high- 
est ideal of life, and there may be a like evil influence of 
habit. Thus much is clear in the first place, that, as in all 
other things, birth implies some antecedent principle, and 
that the end of anything has a beginning in some former 
end. Now, in men reason and mind are the end towards 
which nature strives, so that the birth and moral discipline 
of the citizens ought to be ordered with a view to them. 
In the second place, as the soul and body are two, we see 
also that there are two parts of the soul, the rational and 
the irrational, and two corresponding states — reason and 
appetite. And as the body is prior in order of generation 
to the soul, so the irrational is prior to the rational. The 
proof is that anger and will and desire are implanted in 
children from their very birth, but reason and understand- 
ing are developed as they grow older. Wherefore, the 
care of the body ought to precede that of the soul, and the 
training of the appetitive part should follow : none the less 
our care of it must be for the sake of the reason, and our 
care of the body for the sake of the soul. 



Theory of Education: Scientific View 279 

17. After the children have been born, the manner of Young 
rearing them may be supposed to have a great effect on children, 
their bodily strength. It would appear from the example 
of animals, and of those nations who desire to create the 
military habit, that the food which has most milk in it is Their food, 
best suited to human beings ; but the less wine the better, 
if they would escape diseases. Also all the motions to exercise, 
which children can be subjected at their early age are very 
useful. But in order to preserve their tender limbs from 
distortion, some nations have had recourse to mechanical 
appliances which straighten their bodies. To accustom chil- 
dren to the cold from their earliest years is also an excel- 
lent practice, which greatly conduces to health, and hardens 
them for military service. Hence many barbarians have 
a custom of plunging their children at birth into a cold clothing, 
stream ; others, Hke the Celts, clothe them in a Hght wrap- 
per only. For human nature should be early habituated 
to endure all which by habit it can be made to endure ; 
but the process must be gradual. And children, from 
their natural warmth, may be easily trained to bear cold. 
Such care should attend them in the first stage of life. 

The next period lasts to the age of five ; during this no 
demand should be made upon the child for study or labour, 
lest its growth be impeded ; and there should be sufficient 
motion to prevent the limbs from being inactive. This 
can be secured, among other ways, by amusement, but the amuse- 
amusement should not be vulgar or tiring or riotous. The ments, 
Directors of Education, as they are termed, should be care- 
ful what tales or stories the children hear,^ for the sports tales and 
of children are designed to prepare the way for the busi- stories, 
ness of later life, and should be for the most part imita- 
tions of the occupations which they will hereafter pursue 
in earnest. Those are wrong who (like Plato) in the Laws^ 
attempt to check the loud crying and screaming of children, 
for these contribute towards their growth, and, in a man- 
ner, exercise their bodies. Straining the voice has an 
effect similar to that produced by the retention of the 
breath in violent exertions. Besides other duties, the 

1 Cf. Plato, Republic, II. 377; p. 140 of this volume. 
» Cf. Plato, Laws, I. 643; VII. 799. 



28o Source Book of the History of Education 



Should live 
at home, but 
not be left 
to slaves. 



Care for 
their morals. 



Lasting in- 
fluence of 
early 
associations. 



Directors of Education should have an eye to their bring- 
ing up, and should take care that they are left as Httle as 
possible with slaves. For until they are seven years old 
they must live at home ; and therefore, even at this early 
age, all that is mean and low should be banished from 
their sight and hearing. Indeed, there is nothing which 
the legislator should be more careful to drive away than 
indecency of speech ; for the light utterance of shameful 
words is akin to shameful actions. The young especially 
should never be allowed to repeat or hear anything of the 
sort. A freeman who is fond of saying or doing what is 
forbidden, if he be too young as yet to have the privilege 
of a place at the pubhc tables, should be disgraced and 
beaten, and an elder person degraded as his slavish con- 
duct deserves. And since we do not allow improper lan- 
guage, clearly we should also banish pictures or tales which 
are indecent. Let the rulers take care that there be no 
image or picture representing unseemly actions, except in 
the temples of those Gods at whose festivals the law per- 
mits even ribaldry, and whom the law also permits to be 
worshipped by persons of mature age on behalf of them- 
selves, their children, and their wives. But the legislator 
should not allow youth to be hearers of satirical Iambic 
verses or spectators of comedy until they are of an age to 
sit at the public tables and to drink strong wine ; by that 
time education will have armed them against the evil influ- 
ences of such representations. 

We have made these remarks in a cursory manner, — 
they are enough for the present occasion ; but hereafter 
we will return to the subject and after a fuller discussion^ 
determine whether such Hberty should or should not be 
granted, and in what way granted, if at all. Theodorus, 
the tragic actor, was quite right in saying that he would 
not allow any other actor, not even if he were quite second- 
rate, to enter before himself, because the spectators grew 
fond of the voices which they first heard. And the same 
principle of association applies universally to things as well 
as persons, for we always like best whatever comes first. 
And therefore youth should be kept strangers to all that 
is bad, and especially to things which suggest vice or hate. 



^ A promise unfulfilled, or if fulfilled the discussion is not extant. 



% 



Theory of Education: Scientific View 281 

When the five years have passed away, during the two 

following years they must look on at the pursuits which 

they are hereafter to learn. There are two periods of life Periods of 

into which education has to be divided, from seven to the ^'^*- 

age of puberty, and onwards to the age of one and twenty. 

(The poets) who divide ages by sevens are not always 

right : we should rather adhere to the divisions actually 

made by nature ; for the deficiencies of nature are what 

art and education seek to fill up. 

Let us then first enquire if any regulations are to be laid 
down about children, and secondly, whether the care of 
them should be the concern of the state or the private 
individuals, which latter is in our own day the common 
custom, and in the third place, what these regulations 
should be. 

BOOK VIII 

I. No one will doubt that the legislator should direct his Character of 
attention above all to the education of youth, or that the education 
neglect of education does harm to states. The citizen ^ character 
should be moulded to suit the form of government under of the state, 
which he lives. For each government has a peculiar char- 
acter which originally formed and which continues to 
preserve it. The character of democracy creates democ- 
racy, and the character of oHgarchy creates oligarchy ; 
and always the better the character, the better the govern- 
ment. 

Now for the exercise of any faculty or art a previous 
training and habituation are required ; clearly therefore 
for the practice of virtue. And since the whole city has Education 
one end, it is manifest that education should be one and ^^?V.^'^ ^^, 
the same for all, and that it should be public, and not pri- \^^ J^j^" 
vate, — not as at present, when every one looks after his for all, and 
own children separately, and gives them separate instruc- ^^^ ^^^ good 
tion of the sort which he thinks best ; the training in ° ^ ' 
things which are of common interest should be the same 
for all. Neither must we suppose that any one of the 
citizens belongs to himself, for they all belong to the state, 
and are each of them a part of the state, and the care of 
each part is inseparable from the care of the whole. In 
this particular the Lacedaemonians are to be praised, for 



282 Source Book of the History of Education 



Aim of 
education; 
liberal or 
practical. 



they take the greatest pains about their children, and 
make education the business of the state. 

2. That education should be regulated by law and 
should be an affair of state is not to be denied, but what 
should be the character of this public education, and how 
young persons should be educated, are questions which 
remain to be considered. For mankind are by no means 
agreed about the things to be taught, whether we look to 
virtue or the best life. Neither is it clear whether educa- 
tion is more concerned with intellectual or with moral 
virtue. The existing practice is perplexing; no one. 
knows on what principle we should proceed — should 
the useful in life, or should virtue, or should the higher 
knowledge, be the aim of our training ; all three opinions 
have been entertained. Again, about the means there is 
no agreement; for different persons, starting with differ- 
ent ideas about the nature of virtue, naturally disagree 
about the practice of it. There can be no doubt that 
children should be taught those useful things which are 
really necessary, but not all things ; for occupations are 
divided into liberal and illiberal; and to young children 
should be imparted only such kinds of knowledge as will 
be useful to them without vulgarizing them. And any 
occupation, art, or science, which makes the body or soul 
or mind of the freeman less fit for the practice or exercise 
of virtue, is vulgar ; wherefore we call those arts vulgar 
which tend to deform the body, and likewise all paid 
employments, for they absorb and degrade the mind. 
There are also some liberal arts quite proper for a free- 
man to acquire, but only in a certain degree, and if he 
attend to them too closely, in order to attain perfection in 
them, the same evil effects will follow. The object also 
which a man sets before him makes a great difference ; 
if he does or learns anything for his own sake or for the 
sake of his friends, or with a view to excellence, the action 
will not appear illiberal ; but if done for the sake of others, 
the very same action will be thought menial and servile. 
The received subjects of instruction, as I have already 
remarked, are partly of a liberal and partly of an illiberal 
character. 

3. The customary branches of education are in number 



Theory of Education : Scientific View 283 

four; they are — (i) reading and writing, (2) gymnastic Subject- 
exercises, (3) music, to which is sometimes added (4) draw- matter of 
ing. Of these, reading and writing and drawing are ^ "cation, 
regarded as useful for the purposes of life in a variety 
of ways, and gymnastic exercises are thought to infuse 
courage. Concerning music a doubt may be raised — in Purpose of 
our own day most men cultivate it for the sake of pleas- music, 
ure, but originally it was included in education, because 
nature herself, as has often been said, requires that we 
should be able, not only to work well, but to use leisure 
well ; for, as I must repeat once and again, the first prin- 
ciple of all action is leisure. Both are required, but leisure 
is better than occupation ; and therefore the question must 
be asked in good earnest, what ought we to do when at 
leisure ? Clearly we ought not to be amusing ourselves, 
for then amusement would be the end of hfe. But if this 
is inconceivable, and yet amid serious occupations amuse- 
ment is needed more than at other times (for he who is 
hard at work has need of relaxation, and amusem.ent gives 
relaxation, whereas occupation is always accompanied with 
exertion and effort), at suitable times we should introduce 
amusements, and they should be our medicines, for the 
emotion which they create in the soul is a relaxation, and 
from the pleasure we obtain rest. Leisure of itself gives 
pleasure and happiness and enjoyment of life, which are 
experienced, not by the busy man, but by those who have 
leisure. For he who is occupied has in view some end 
which he has not attained ; but happiness is an end which 
all men deem to be accompanied with pleasure and not 
with pain. This pleasure, however, is regarded differently 
by different persons, and varies according to the habit of 
individuals ; the pleasure of the best man is the best, and 
springs from the noblest sources. It is clear then that 
there are branches of learning and education which we 
must study with a view to the enjoyment of leisure, and 
these are to be valued for their own sake ; whereas those 
kinds of knowledge which are useful in business are to be 
deemed necessary, and exist for the sake of other things. 
And therefore our fathers admitted music into education, 
not on the ground either of its necessity or utility, for it 
is not necessary, nor indeed useful in the same manner as 



284 Soitrce Book of the History of Education 



Reading, 
writing, anc 
drawing 
have a 
liberal 
purpose. 



reading and writing, which are useful in money-making, 
in the management of a household, in the acquisition of 
knowledge and in political life, nor like drawing, useful 
for a more correct judgment of the works of artists, nor 
again like gymnastic, which gives health and strength ; 
for neither of these is to be gained from music. There 
remains, then, the use of music for intellectual enjoyment 
in leisure ; which appears to have been the reason of its 
introduction, this being one of the ways in which it is 
thought that a freeman should pass his leisure ; as Homer 
says — 

'■ How good it is to invite men to the pleasant feast,' 

and afterwards he speaks of others whom he describes as 
inviting 

'The bard who would delight them all.'^ 

And in another place Odysseus says there is no better way 
of passing life than when 

' Men's hearts are merry and the banqueters in the hall, sitting in 
order, hear the voice of the minstrel.''^ 

It is evident, then, that there is a sort of education in 
which parents should train their sons, not as being useful 
or necessary, but because it is liberal or noble. Whether 
this is of one kind only, or of more than one, and if so, 
what they are, and how they are to be imparted, must here- 
after be determined. Thus much we are now in a position 
to say that the ancients witness to us ; for their opinion 
may be gathered from the fact that music is one of the re- 
ceived and traditional branches of education. Further, it 
is clear that children should be instructed in some useful 
things, — for example, in reading and writing, — not only 
for their usefulness, but also because many other sorts of 
knowledge are acquired through them. With a like view 
they may be taught drawing, not to prevent their making 
mistakes in their own purchases, or in order that they may 
not be imposed upon in the buying or selling of articles, but 
rather because it makes them judges of the beauty of the 
human form. To be always seeking after the useful does 



Odyssey, XVII. 3S5. 



'^ Odyssey, IX. 7. 



Theory of Education : Scientific View 285 



not courage. 



not become free and exalted souls. Now it is clear that in Gymnastic, 
education habit must go before reason, and the body before 
the mind ; and therefore boys should be handed over to 
the trainer, who creates in them the proper habit of body, 
and to the wrestling-master, who teaches them their exer- 
cises. 

4. Of those states which in our own day seem to take Athletic 
the greatest care of children, some aim at producing in training 
them an athletic habit, but they only injure their forms and ^"J""*^*^^* 
stunt their growth. Although the Lacedaemonians have 
not fallen into this mistake, yet they brutalize their chil- 
dren by laborious exercises which they think will make 
them courageous. But in truth, as we have often repeated, 
education should not be exclusively directed to this or to 
any other single end. And even if we suppose the Lacedae- 
monians to be right in their end, they do not attain it. 
For among barbarians and among animals courage is found Roughness 
associated, not with the greatest ferocity, but with a gentle ""^ ferocity ib 
and lion-like temper. There are many races who are ready 
enough to kill and eat men, such as the Achaeans and 
Heniochi, who both live about the Black Sea ; and there 
are other inland tribes, as bad or worse, who all live by 
plunder, but have no courage. It is notorious that the 
Lacedaemonians, while they were themselves assiduous in 
their laborious drill, were superior to others, but now they 
are beaten both in war and gymnastic exercises. For 
their ancient superiority did not depend on their mode of 
training their youth, but only on the circumstance that 
they trained them at a time when others did not. Hence 
we may infer that what is noble, not what is brutal, should 
have the first place ; no wolf or other wild animal will face 
a really noble danger ; such dangers are for the brave man. 
And parents who devote their children to gymnastics 
while they neglect their necessary education, in reality vul- 
garize them ; for they make them useful to the state in one 
quality only, and even in this the argument proves them to 
be inferior to others. We should judge the Lacedaemo- 
nians not from what they have been but from what they 
are ; for now they have rivals who compete with their edu- 
cation ; formerly they had none. 

It is an admitted principle, that gymnastic exercises 



286 Source Book of the History of Education 



The young 
should not 
be over- 
taxed. 



Why music 
should be 
studied : as 
an amuse- 
ment; 
because it 
affects 
character; 
because it 
contributes 
to the en- 
joyment of 
leisure. 



Need we 
play and 
sing 
ourselves? 



should be employed in education, and that for children 
they should be of a lighter kind, avoiding severe regimen 
or painful toil, lest the growth of the body be impaired. 
The evil of excessive training in early years is strikingly 
proved by the example of the Olympic victors ; for not 
more than two or three of them have gained a prize both 
as boys and as men ; their early training and severe gym- 
nastic exercises exhausted their constitutions. When boy- 
hood is over, three years should be spent in other studies ; 
the period of life which follows may then be devoted to 
hard exercise and strict regimen. Men ought not to labour 
at the same time with their minds and with their bodies ; ^ 
for the two kinds of labour are opposed to one another, 
the labour of the body impedes the mind, and the labour of 
the mind the body. 

5. Concerning music there are some questions which we 
have already raised ; these we may now resume and carry 
further ; and our remarks will serve as a prelude to this or 
any other discussion of the subject. It is not easy to 
determine the nature of music, or why any one should have 
a knowledge of it. Shall we say, for the sake of amuse- 
ment and relaxation, like sleep or drinking, which are not 
good in themselves, but are pleasant, and at the same time 
' make care to cease ; ' as Euripides ^ says .'' And therefore 
men rank them with music, and make use of all three, — 
sleep, drinking, music, — to which some add dancing. 
Or shall we argue that music conduces to virtue, on the 
ground that it can form our minds and habituate us to true 
pleasures as our bodies are made by gymnastic to be of a 
certain character .-' Or shall we say that it contributes to 
the enjoyment of leisure and mental cultivation, which is a 
third alternative .'' Now obviously youth are not to be in- 
structed with a view to their amusement, for learning is no 
pleasure, but is accompanied with pain. Neither is intel- 
lectual enjoyment suitable to boys of that age, for it is the 
end, and that which is imperfect cannot attain the perfect 
or end. But perhaps it may be said that boys learn music 
for the sake of the amusement which they will have when 

1 Cf. Plato, Republic, VII. 537; p. 217 of this volume. 
* Bacchse, 380. 



Theory of Education: Scientific View 287 

they are grown up. If so, why should they learn them- 
selves, and not, like the Persian and Median kings, enjoy 
the pleasure and instruction which is derived from hearing 
others ? (for surely skilled persons who have made music 
the business and profession of their lives will be better per- 
formers than those who practise only to learn). If they 
must learn music, on the same principle they should learn 
cookery, which is absurd. And even granting that music 
may form the character, the objection still holds : why 
should we learn ourselves } Why cannot we attain true 
pleasure and form a correct judgment from hearing others, 
like the Lacedaemonians .-' — for they, without learning 
music, nevertheless can correctly judge, as they say, of 
good and bad melodies. Or again, if music should be used 
to promote cheerfulness and refined intellectual enjoyment, 
the objection still remains — why should we learn our- 
selves instead of enjoying the performance of others? We 
may illustrate what we are saying by our conception of the 
Gods ; for in the poets Zeus does not himself sing or play 
on the lyre. Nay, we call professional performers vulgar ; 
no freeman would play or sing unless he were intoxicated 
or in jest. But these matters may be left for the present. 

The first question is whether music is or is not to be a Music may 
part of education. Of the three things mentioned in our \^^°^l 
discussion, which is it } — Education or amusement or intel- ('i)"an' 
lectual enjoyment, for it may be reckoned under all three, amusement, 
and seems to share in the nature of all of them. Amuse- 
ment is for the sake of relaxation, and relaxation is of 
necessity sweet, for it is the remedy of pain caused by 
toil, and intellectual enjoyment is universally acknowledged 
to contain an element not only of the noble but of the 
pleasant, for happiness is made up of both. All men 
agree that music is one of the pleasantest things, whether 
with or without song ; as Musaeus says, 

' Song is to mortals of all things the sweetest.' 

Hence and with good reason it is introduced into social 
gatherings and entertainments, because it makes the hearts 
of men glad : so that on this ground alone we may assume 
that the young ought to be trained in it. For innocent 
pleasures are not only in harmony with the perfect end of 



I 

288 Source Book of the Histoiy of Education 

life, but they also provide relaxation. And whereas men 
rarely attain the end, but often rest by the way and amuse 
themselves, not only with a view to some good, but also 
for the pleasure's sake, it may be well for them at times 
to find a refreshment in music. It sometimes happens 
that men make amusement the end, for the end probably 
contains some element of pleasure, though not any ordi- 
nary or lower pleasure ; but they mistake the lower for 
the higher, and in seeking for the one find the other, since 
every pleasure has a likeness to the end of action. For 
the end is not eligible, nor do the pleasures which we 
have described exist, for the sake of any future good but 
of the past, that is to say, they are the alleviation of past 
toils and pains. And we may infer this to be the reason 
why men seek happiness from common pleasures. But . 
music is pursued, not only as an alleviation of past toil, but I 
(2) as also as providing recreation. And who can say whether, | 

having an having this usc, it may not also have a nobler one .■* In * 
fnfluTnce. addition to this common pleasure, felt and shared in by 
all (for the pleasure given by music is natural, and there- 
fore adapted to all ages and characters), may it not have 
also some influence over the character and the soul } It 
must have such an influence if characters are affected 
by it. And that they are so affected is proved by the 
power which the songs of Olympus and of many others 
exercise ; for beyond question they inspire enthusiasm, l 
and enthusiasm is an emotion of the ethical part of ' 
the soul. Besides, when men hear imitations, even unac- 
companied by melody or rhythm, their feelings move in 
sympathy. Since then music is a pleasure, and virtue con- 
sists in rejoicing and loving and hating aright, there is 
clearly nothing which we are so much concerned to acquire 
and to cultivate as the power of forming right judgments, 
and of taking delight in good dispositions and noble 
actions.^ Rhythm and melody supply imitations of anger 
and gentleness, and also of courage and temperance and 
of virtues and vices in general, which hardly fall short of 
the actual affections, as we know from our own experience, 

1 Cf. Plato, Republic, III. 401-402; p. 161 of this volume, and Plato, Laws, 
II. 658-659; pp. 227-228 of this volume. 



Theory of Education : Scientific View 289 

for in listening to such strains our souls undergo a change. 
The habit of feeling pleasure or pain at mere representa- 
tions is not far removed from the same feeling about 
realities;^ for example, if any one delights in the sight of 
a statue for its beauty only, it necessarily follows that the 
sight of the original will be pleasant to him. No other More than 
sense, such as taste or touch, has any resemblance to moral painting and 
qualities ; in sight only there is a little, for figures are to ^^^'^^y- 
some extent of a moral character, and (so far) all participate 
in the feeling about them. Again, figures and colours are 
not imitations, but signs of moral habits, indications which 
the body gives of states of feeling. The connection of 
them with morals is slight, but in so far as there is any, 
young men should be taught to look, not at the works of 
Pauson, but at those of Polygnotus, or any other painter Various 
or statuary who expresses moral ideas. On the other melodies 
hand, even in mere melodies there is an imitation of char- have'^vario'us 
acter, for the musical modes differ essentially from one ethical 
another, and those who hear them are differently affected effects. 
by each. Some of them make men sad and grave, like 
the so-called Mixolydian, others enfeeble the mind, like 
the relaxed harmonies, others, again, produce a moderate 
and settled temper, which appears to be the peculiar 
effect of the Dorian ; the Phrygian inspires enthusiasm. 
The whole subject has been well treated by philosophical 
writers on this branch of education, and they confirm 
their arguments by facts. The same principles apply to 
rhythms : some have a character of rest, others of motion, 
and of these latter again, some have a more vulgar, others 
a nobler movement. Enough has been said to show that 
music has a power of forming the character, and should 
therefore be introduced into the education of the young. 
The study is suited to the stage of youth, for young per- 
sons will not, if they can help, endure anything which is 
not sweetened by pleasure, and music has a natural sweet- 
ness. There seems to be in us a sort of affinity to harmo- 
nies and rhythms, which makes some philosophers say that 
the soul is a harmony, others, that she possesses harmony. 
6. And now we have to determine the question which 

^ Cf. Plato, Republic, III. 395; pp. 155-156 of this volume. 
u 



290 Source Book of the History of Education 



Children 
should be 
taught to 
sing and 
play. 



They must 
not become 
profes- 
sionals. 



has been already raised, whether children should be them- 
selves taught to sing and play or not. Clearly there is a 
considerable difference made in the character by the actual 
practice of the art. It is difficult, if not impossible, for i 
those who do not perform to be good judges of the per- 
formance of others. Besides, children should have some- 
thing to do, and the rattle of Archytas, which people give |j 
to their children in order to amuse them and prevent T I 
them from breaking anything in the house, was a capital 
invention, for a young thing cannot be quiet. The rattle 
is a toy suited to the infant mind and (musical) education 
is a rattle or toy for children of a larger growth. We 
conclude then that they should be taught music in such a 
way as to become not only critics but performers. 

The question what is or is not suitable for different ages 
may be easily answered ; nor is there any difficulty in 
meeting the objection of those who say that the study of 
music is vulgar. We reply (i) in the first place, that they 
who are to be judges must also be performers, and that they 
should begin to practise early, although when they are 
older they may be spared the execution ; they must have 
learned to appreciate what is good and to delight in it, 
thanks to the knowledge which they acquired in their 
youth. As to (2) the vulgarizing effect which music is 
supposed to exercise, this is a question (of degree), which 
we shall have no difficulty in determining, when we have 
considered to what extent freemen who are being trained 
to political virtue should pursue the art, what melodies and 
what rhythms they should be allowed to use, and what 
instruments should.be employed in teaching them to play, 
for even the instrument makes a difference. The answer 
to the objection turns upon these distinctions ; for it is 
quite possible that certain methods of teaching and learn- 
ing music do really have a degrading effect. It is evident 
then that the learning of music ought not to impede the 
business of riper years, or to degrade the body or render 
it unfit for civil or military duties, whether for the early 
practice or for the later study of them. 

The right measure will be attained if students of music 
stop short of the arts which are practised in professional 
contests, and do not seek to acquire those fantastic marvels 



Theory of Educatiort: Scientific View 291 

of execution which are now the fashion in such contests, and 
from these have passed into education. Let the young pur- 
sue their studies until they are able to feel delight in noble 
melodies and rhythms, and not merely in that common 
part of music in which every slave or child and even some 
animals find pleasure. 

From these principles we may also infer what instru- what 
ments should be used. The flute, or any other instrument instruments 
which requires great skill, as for example the harp, ought \^^^ ^ 
not to be admitted into education, but only such as will 
make intelligent students of music or of the other parts of 
education. Besides, the flute is not an instrument which Not the flute, 
has a good moral effect; it is too exciting. The proper 
time for using it is when the performance aims not at 
instruction, but at the relief of the passions. And there is 
a further objection ; the impediment which the flute pre- 
sents, to the use of the voice detracts from its educational 
value. The ancients therefore were right in forbidding 
the flute to youths and freemen, although they had once 
allowed it. For when their wealth gave them greater 
leisure, and they had loftier notions of excellence, being 
also elated with their success, both before and after the 
Persian War, with more zeal than discernment they pur- 
sued every kind of knowledge, and so they introduced the 
flute into education. At Lacedaemon there was a 
Choragus who led the Chorus with a flute, and at Athens 
the instrument became so popular that most freemen could 
play upon it. The popularity is shown by the tablet which 
Thrasippus dedicated when he furnished the Chorus to 
Ecphantides. Later experience enabled men to judge 
what was or was not really conducive to virtue, 'and they 
rejected both the flute and several other old-fashioned 
instruments, such as the Lydian harp, the many-stringed 
lyre, the 'heptagon,' 'triangle,' 'sambuca,' and the like — 
which are intended only to give pleasure to the hearer, and 
require extraordinary skill of hand.^ There is a meaning 
also in the myth of the ancients, which tells how Athene 
invented the flute and then threw it away. It was not a 
bad idea of theirs, that the Goddess disliked the instrument 
because it made the face ugly ; but with still more reason 

* Cf. Plato, Republic, III. 399; p. 160 of this volume. 



292 Source Book of the History of Education 



Profes- 
sionalism 
vulgarizes 
music. 



Melodies 

and 

rhythms. 



Classifica- 
tion of 
melodies. 



may we say that she rejected it because the acquirement of 
flute-playing contributes nothing to the mind, since to 
Athene we ascribe both knowledge and art. 

Thus then we reject the professional instruments and 
also the professional mode of education in music — and by 
professional we mean that which is adopted in contests, 
for in this the performer practises the art, not for the 
sake of his own improvement, but in order to give pleasure, 
and that of a vulgar sort, to his hearers. For this reason 
the execution of such music is not the part of a freeman 
but of a paid performer, and the result is that the per- 
formers are vulgarized, for the end at which they aim is 
bad. The vulgarity of the spectator tends to lower the 
character of the music and therefore of the performers ; 
they look to him — he makes them what they are, and 
fashions even their bodies by the movements which he 
expects them to exhibit. 

7. We have also to consider rhythms and harmonies. 
Shall we use them all in education or make a distinction ? 
and shall the distinction be that which is made by those who 
are engaged in education, or shall it be some other .-' For \ 
we see that music is produced by melody and rhythm, and 
we ought to know what influence these have respectively 
on education, and whether we should prefer excellence in 
melody or excellence in rhythm. But as the subject has 
been very well treated by many musicians of the present 
day, and also by philosophers who have had considerable 
experience of musical education, to these we would refer I 
the more exact student of the subject; we shall only speak I 
of it now after the matter of the legislator, having regard ■ 
to general principles. 

We accept the division of melodies proposed by certain 
philosophers into ethical melodies, melodies of action, and 
passionate or inspiring melodies, each having, as they say, 
a mode or harmony corresponding to it. But we maintain 
further that music should be studied, not for the sake of 
one, but of many benefits, that is to say, with a view to 
(i) education, (2) purification (the word 'purification' we 
use at present without explanation, but when hereafter we 
speak of poetry, we will treat the subject with more preci- 
sion); music may also serve (3) for intellectual enjoyment, 



Theory of Education: Scieiitific View 293 



for relaxation and for recreation after exertion. It is clear, 
therefore, that all the harmonies must be employed by us, 
but not all of them in the same manner. In education 
ethical melodies are to be preferred, but we may listen to 
the melodies of action and passion when they are performed 
by others. For feelings such as pity and fear, or, again, 
enthusiasm, exist very strongly in some souls, and have 
more or less influence over all. Some persons fall into a 
religious frenzy, whom we see disenthralled by the use of 
mystic melodies, which bring healing and purification to 
the soul. Those who are influenced by pity or fear and 
every emotional nature have a like experience, others 
in their degree are stirred by something which specially 
affects them, and all are in a manner purified and their 
souls lightened and deHghted. The melodies of purifica- 
tion likewise give an innocent pleasure to mankind. Such 
are the harmonies and the melodies in which those who 
perform music at the theatre should be invited to compete. 
But since the spectators are of two kinds — the one free and 
educated, the other a vulgar crowd composed of mechanics, 
labourers, and the like — there ought to be contests and exhi- 
bitions instituted for the relaxation of the second class also. 
And the melodies will correspond to their minds; for as their 
minds are perverted from the natural state, so there are exag- 
gerated and corrupted harmonies which are in like manner a 
perversion. A man receives pleasure from what is natural 
to him, and therefore professional musicians may be allowed 
to practise this lower sort of music before an audience of 
a lower type. But, for the purposes of education, as I 
have already said, those modes and melodies should be 
employed which are ethical, such as the Dorian ; though 
we may include any others which are approved by philoso- 
phers who have had a musical education. The Socrates 
of the Republic ^ is wrong in retaining only the Phrygian 
mode along with the Dorian, and the more so because he 
rejects the flute; for the Phrygian is to the modes what 
the flute is to musical instruments — both of them are 
exciting and emotional. Poetry proves this, for Bacchic 
frenzy and all similar emotions are most suitably expressed 
by the flute, and are better set to the Phrygian than to any 

1 Cf. Plato, Republic, III. 399; p. 160 of this volume. 



Ethical 
melodies to 
be preferred 
in education. 



Music for the 
multitude. 



The Dorian 
mode is 
ethical and 
educational. 



294 Source Book of the History of Education 



Principles 
controlling 
the use of 
music in 
education. 



other harmony. The dithyramb, for example, is acknowl- 
edged to be Phrygian, a fact of which the connoisseurs of 
music offer many proofs, saying, among other things, that 
Philoxenus, having attempted to compose his Tales as a 
dithyramb in the Dorian mode, found it impossible, and 
fell back into the more appropriate Phrygian. All men 
agree that the Dorian music is the gravest and manliest. 
And whereas we say that the extremes should be avoided 
and the mean followed, and whereas the Dorian is a mean 
between the other harmonies (the Phrygian and the 
Lydian), it is evident that our youth should be taught the 
Dorian music. 

Two principles have to be kept in view, what is possible, 
what is becoming : at these every man ought to aim. But 
even these are relative to age ; the old, who have lost their 
powers, cannot very well sing the severe melodies, and 
nature herself seems to suggest that their songs should be 
of the more relaxed kind. Wherefore the musicians like- 
wise blame Socrates, and with justice, for rejecting the 
relaxed harmonies in education under the idea that they 
are intoxicating, not in the ordinary sense of intoxication 
(for wine rather tends to excite men), but because they 
have no strength in them. And so with a view to a time 
of life when men begin to grow old, they ought to practise 
the gentler harmonies and melodies as well as the others. 
And if there be any harmony, such as the Lydian above 
all others appears to be, which is suited to children of 
tender age, and possesses the elements both of order and 
of education, clearly (we ought to use it, for) education 
should be based upon three principles — the mean, the 
possible, the becoming, these three. ^ 



^ This last selection is the eighth Book complete. Its abrupt termination is 
further evidence that the treatise on education is fragmentary and incomplete. 



VII. THE LATER COSMOPOLITAN GREEK 
EDUCATION 

The Period. — The decline of the national systems of 
education in Greece was consummated with the loss of 
political ambition and independent existence at the battle 
of Chaeronea, 338 B.C. Even before this time Greek sys- 
tems had lost much of their peculiar force. The decay 
and the attempted revivification of the Spartan system in 
the third century have been mentioned. The new educa- 
tion at Athens had introduced much greater freedom in 
Athenian practice, so that the education there was rather 
cosmopolitan than national. But of this cosmopolitan 
education Athens remained the centre throughout the 
Macedonian and Roman periods, though other centres, 
such as Rhodes, Tarsus, and Alexandria, became strong 
rivals. Interest now centres in higher education, which 
has become wholly intellectual in character. The chief 
characteristics of this period are : first, the organization of 
the various schools of philosophy finally combined into 
the University of Athens ; second, the systematization of 
higher education under the control of, and finally with the 
support of, the state. While there is great emphasis 
upon the intellectual and philosophical life, education 
comes to be of minor political and social importance. 
Comparatively little material is to be found bearing upon 
the actual organization of Greek education during all this 
long period, save as its general features are presented in 

295 



296 Source Book of the History of Education 

the tendencies of the new education and of the philo- 
sophical schools. However, the discussion of Roman 
education of the Graeco-Roman period will supplement 
the information here given concerning the status of 
Greek education during much of this period. With the 
ascendency of the Christian religion a new influential factor 
is introduced into Greek education, this factor not becom- 
ing wholly dominant, however, until the University of 
Athens is closed by Justinian. 

The Sources. — The first and second selections given 
consist of a decree of the Athenian Senate and one of the 
Assembly, relating to the education of the ephebes for 
some year about a century previous to the beginning of 
the Christian era. These selections are taken from the 
collection of inscriptions by Dumont, given in his Essai 
sur UEphebie Attiqiie. 

The third selection is an extract from the Panegyric 
of Gregory of Nazianzus on Saint Basil, and dates from 
the fourth Christian century. Gregory was a student at 
Athens about 350 to 356 a.d. Among his fellow- stu- 
dents was Basil, with whom he formed an intimate friend- 
ship. Both Gregory and Basil were prominent in the 
conflict with Arianism, and both held prominent places 
among the early church writers. Both were primarily 
students, though Basil gave up the student life for one of 
activity in furthering the practical interests of the church. 
Basil died in 379, and though Gregory was not present at 
the funeral, he later delivered the panegyric upon some 
anniversary of his friend's death. In this panegyric he 
gives a brief description of student life in Athens as it was 
during the period of their attendance at the university. The 
fourth selection consists of the greater part of Plutarch's 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 297 

essay upon the Training of Children. This presents the 
general views of a cosmopolitan Greek at about the opening 
of the second Christian century. While cosmopolitan, Plu- 
tarch was thoroughly Greek in his education and his sym- 
pathies. As giving a scientific though extremely practical 
exposition of the best Grecian educational ideas and prac- 
tices, this selection from Plutarch might have been classed 
with that from Aristotle ; but placed here, it will serve the 
additional purpose of illustrating the persistence of these 
ideas, four centuries later, at a time when Greece yet 
retained her intellectual leadership. 

The Philosophical Schools. — The schools of the Soph- 
ists were entirely private schools, and for the most part 
consisted of the group of students gathered around any 
one instructor. There was no system of beliefs or unity 
of methods that would lead to the formation of any per- 
manent institution. Socrates did not have any definite 
place for giving instruction or any definite body of pupils. 
So long as no fees were exacted, there would be no defi- 
nite student body. Plato, and very probably Aristotle, 
followed the example of Socrates in this respect. But 
Plato's successor, Speusippus, demanded regular fees, as 
did also the teachers of the other philosophical groups. 
This gave both definiteness and continuity of administra- 
tion. A further factor in the development of definite 
schools was the acquiring of definite locations and 
names. The leading gymnasia of Athens were the 
Academy, the Cynosarges, and the Lyceum. These 
were in the suburbs, and were somewhat of the nature 
of public parks, being provided with water and gardens 
as well as exercise grounds. Plato taught chiefly at the 
Academy, both in the public gymnasium and in pri- 



298 Source Book of the History of Education 

vate grounds which he acquired near by. This plot of 
ground, together with the headship of the school, Plato 
left to his nephew, Speusippus. The small property 
became the nucleus of a considerable foundation, for it 
was enriched, not only by fees, but by gifts from wealthy 
patrons and by the bequests of the heads of the school. 
In time friends and pupils also made bequests, until a con- 
siderable endowment was accumulated. The heads of the 
school were called scholarchs, and received their positions 
either through the designation of their predecessor or, 
later, by election. In a similar way Aristotle settled in 
the Lyceum and Antisthenes in the Cynosarges. Later 
the pupils of the latter removed to the frescoed portico in 
Athens, whence they were called Stoics. Epicurus 
taught in his own private grounds, which he left as the 
nucleus of an endowment for his school. As with the suc- 
cessors of Plato, each of these groups became definitely 
organized into a school with an endowment, and with a 
recognized head, or scholarch. 

The attendance on these schools was very large. Theo- 
phrastus, the successor of Aristotle in the headship of the 
Lyceum, is said to have had more than two thousand pupils 
at one time. The scholarchs were assisted by a staff of 
assistants who collectively constituted the school. At 
any rate Lycon, the successor of Theophrastus, bequeathed 
the school to his pupils, or assistants, collectively, leaving 
to them the selection or election of a scholarch. Later 
on the scholarchs for some of the schools were elected by 
the council, usually after some form of examination. 
Still later, when these positions became salaried imperial 
offices, disputed elections were settled, or positions filled, 
by imperial officers, sometimes by the emperor himself. 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 299 

Even in the early period, in addition to the immediate 
group of assistants or favorite pupils, a great number of 
minor teachers of grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, physics, 
and mathematics gathered around these four great schools 
of philosophy. Besides these philosophers and Sophists, 
there were numerous private tutors who prepared candi- 
dates for entrance to these higher schools, helped the 
younger students in their exercises, and directed them in 
their reading and note work. The philosophical chairs 
thus became the centre of the intellectual activity in all 
Greece. 

The character of the work of these schools was very 
different from that of their founders. From the very first 
the scholarchs attempted only to set forth the ideas of the 
respective founders of the schools. This is what distin- 
guishes them from the earlier schools : there was no 
attempt to apply the ideas of the great teachers in inves- 
tigation, research, or even in discussion on new topics. 
For the most part the work became as formal and as arti- 
ficial as the work of the Sophists, only it was directed 
toward a different objett. The philosophical schools at 
least had a definite body of doctrine to expound and to 
comment upon. In the case of the Lyceum the works of 
the founder were soon removed from Athens, and the ideas 
of Aristotle were preserved only in fragments, chiefly by 
means of note-books in the school. Not only did the 
Lyceum fail to develop new doctrine ; it did not even suc- 
ceed in preserving the old. In all these schools there 
grew up a reverence for the written word that had great 
influence, literary and religious as well as educational. 
So far as the spirit of education was concerned, this later 
development was distinctly inferior to the earlier conditions. 



300 Source Book of the History of Education 

The University of Athens originated in a combination of 
these philosophical schools with the old Athenian institu- 
tion for the education of the ephebes. This latter educa- 
tion had originally consisted of the two years' military 
training and service required of all Athenian youths dur- 
ing their eighteenth and nineteenth years. During the 
period of the new education the military rigor was so 
much relaxed that much of the time could be devoted to 
intellectual ends in the philosophical and sophistic schools. * 
After the Peloponnesian War the term of ephebic service was \ 
reduced to one year, and after the Macedonian conquest 
it was made wholly optional. Coincident with these 
changes, the literary element of the training grew in 
importance until finally it dominated. It became custom-, 
ary for the entire corps of ephebes to attend the lectures 
either of one philosophical school, or of all save that of 
Epicurus ; for it does not appear that during this stage 
of their education they were allowed to patronize this 
institution. The term of higher education under state 
control was reduced to one year, during which period the 
youth were under the direction of an elective state officer, 
the rector, who held office for but one year. A change 
of quite as great importance as that of making this course 
optional for Athenian youths was the admission of foreign- 
born youths to the ephebic corps. During the Roman 
period the foreign youths were quite as numerous as the \ 
native. The old military state training had then become I 
a literary university training. This year of study under 
the direction of the state officer came to be merely intro- 
ductory. Many remained for a much longer period, and 
their number was supplemented by the great many adult 
students drawn from all quarters by the philosophical 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 301 

schools. During the earlier Christian centuries the period 
of study had extended to four or five years, or even more. 
Two further changes brought about an organization 
of these various educational institutions into one more 
unified. The military operations of Philip V. of Mace- 
don (200 B.C.) and of the dictator Sulla {Z^ B.C.) resulted in 
the injury, if not the destruction, of the gymnasia situated 
in the suburbs. These schools then followed the Stoics 
into the city. There, in public gymnasia, especially that 
of Ptolemy and later that of Hadrian, and also in private 
theatres, these schools were conducted. The second of 
these changes was the pubhc support given to these schools 
of philosophy, and to the chairs of rhetoric, by the Roman 
Empire from the first Christian century on to the suppres- 
sion of the University. This was begun by Vespasian, 
though Hadrian and the Antonines were the emperors 
especially interested in building up the University of 
Athens, and in making it the centre of learning for the 
Empire. These chairs, never more than ten in all, did 
not constitute all of the University. Their work was sup- 
plemented by that of a considerable number of private lec- 
turers, who continued the old practice of lecturing for fees, 
and by a great number of tutors and pedagogues, who were 
responsible for the work and conduct of the younger stu- 
dents. During the Christian centuries the University Ufa 
presents many characteristics, of University life in mediaeval 
or modern times. The ephebic organization seems to have 
degenerated into students' clubs or secret societies. Initi- 
ation into such societies, hazing, the wearing of distinctive 
gowns, and many other customs, present strong resem- 
blances to characteristic features of the mediaeval Univer- 
sity, some of these being described in the selection from 



302 Source Book of the History of Education 

Gregory, Such similarities have led to the theory that 
there was a direct connection between the University of 
Athens of the sixth century, and the mediaeval universities 
of the eleventh. The University of Athens as a centre of 
classical learning aroused the opposition of the Christian 
church. This opposition, together with other causes, 
finally led to the suppression of the University by the 
Emperor Justinian, 529 a.d. As long previous to this 
decree the rhetorical and sophistic schools had disappeared, 
it was only a few of the philosophical teachers, chiefly of 
the Neoplatonic school, that at the decree of Justinian 
then fled to Persia, 

A Decree of the Athenian Senate^ from about lOO B.C.^ 

' That whereas the Ephebi of last year sacrificed duly 
at their matriculation in the Guildhall, by the sacred fire 
of the City, in the presence of their Rector and the Priests 
of the People and the Pontiffs, according to the laws and 
decrees, and conducted the procession in honour of Arte- 
mis the Huntress, , . . and took part in others of like 
kind, and ran in the customary torch-races, and escorted 
the statue of Pallas to Phalerum, and helped to bring it 
back again, and light it on its way in perfect order, and 
carried Dionysus also from his shrine into the theatre in 
like fashion, and brought a bull worthy of the God at the 
Dionysiac festival, , . . and took part in all due offerings 
to our Gods and our Benefactors, as the laws and the 
decrees ordain ; and have been regular in their attendance 
all the year at the gymnasia, and punctually obeyed their 
Rector, thinking it of paramount importance to observe 
discipline, and to study diligently what the People has 
prescribed ; — whereas there has been no ground for com- 
plaint,- but they have kept all the rules made by their Rec- 

^ Dumont, Essai sur VEph'ebie Attiqut, II, 152, Translation taken from 
Capes. University Life in Ancient Athens, pp, 21 et seq. 



1 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 303 

tor and their Tutors, and have attended without fail the 
lectures of Zenodotus in the Ptolemaeum and the Lyceum, 
as also those of all the other Professors of Philosophy in 
the Lyceum and Academy ; and have mounted guard in 
good order at the popular assemblies, and have gone out 
to meet our Roman friends and benefactors on their visits ; 
. , . and have given 70 drachmas, as the law provides to 
the proper functionaries to provide the goblet for the 
Mother of the Gods, and offered another also in the tem- 
ple at Eleusis ; and have marched out under arms to the 
Athenian frontiers, and made themselves acquainted with 
the country and the roads, . . . and have gone out to 
Marathon and offered their garlands and said prayers at 
the shrine of the heroes who died fighting for their coun- 
try's freedom ; . . . and have gone on shipboard to the 
feast of Aiantaea, and held boat-races and processions 
there, and earned the praises of the Salaminians, and the 
present of a golden crown because of their good discipline 
and orderly behaviour; — and whereas they have lived in 
friendly harmony all the year without a jar as their Rector 
wished, and have passed their Examinations in the Senate 
House as the law requires ; and being full of honourable 
ambition and desire to help their Rector in his public-spir- 
ited endeavours to promote the public good as well as their 
own credit, they have taken in hand one of the old cata- 
pults that was out of gear, and repairing it at their own 
expense, have learnt once more how to use the engine, the 
practice of which had been disused for years ; and in all 
other matters have conducted themselves with all propriety, 
and have provided all that was required for the religious 
services of their own gymnasia — to show the wish of the 
Senate and the People to honour them for their merits and 
obedience to the laws and to their Rector, in their first 
year of adult life, the Senate is agreed to instruct the Presi- 
dents of the next assembly following, to lay before the 
People for approval the Resolution of the Senate to pass 
an honorary vote in praise of the Ephebi of last year, and 
to present them with a golden crown for their constant 
piety and discipline and public spirit, and to compliment 
their Tutors, their trainer Timon, and the fencing master 
Satyrus, and the marksman Nicander, and the bowman 



304 Source Book of the History of Education 

Asclepiades, and Calchedon the instructor in the catapults, 
and the attendants, and to award a crown of leaves to 
each ; and to have the decree engraved by the Secretary 
for the time being on two pillars of stone, to be placed 
one in the Market-place, and the second wherever may 
seem best.' 



A Decree of the Athenian Assembly from the Same Period^ 

' Whereas the People always has a hearty interest in the 
training and discipline of the Ephebi, hoping that the ris- 
ing generation may grow up to be men able to take good 
care of their fatherland, and has passed laws to require 
them to gain a knowledge of the country, of the guard- 
posts and of the frontiers, and to train themselves as sol- 
diers in the use of arms, thanks to which discipline the 
City has been decked with many glories and imposing tro- 
phies ; and whereas on this account the People has always 
chosen a Rector of unblemished character, and accord- 
ingly last year Dionysius the son of Socrates, the Phyla- 
sian, had the care of the Ephebi entrusted to him by the 
People, and duly sacrificed with them at their matricula- 
tion, . . . and has trained them worthily, keeping them 
constantly engaged at the gymnasia, and making them all 
efficient in their drill, and insisting on decorum, that they 
should not fail throughout the year in obedience to the 
Generals, the Tutors and himself ; and whereas he has 
watched over their habits of order and of self-control, 
taking them with him to the Professor's Lectures, and 
being present always at their courses of instruction . . . 
and whereas he has also roused their pubUc spirit by teach- 
ing them to be good marksmen with the catapult, and 
accompanied them in their rounds to the guardposts and 
the frontiers . . . and has arranged the boat-races in the 
processions at Munychia . . . and also the footraces in the 
gymnasia, and the escorts of honour for our Roman friends 
and allies . . . and reviewed them on parade at the The- 
seia and Epitaphia . . . and has been vigilant in all cases 
to maintain their pride, being constant in attendance on 

^ Same sources. 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 305 

them through the year, and has watched over their studies, 
and ruled them with impartial justice, keeping them in 
sound health and friendly intercourse, treating them with 
a father's care — in return for all of which the Ephebi 
have presented him with a golden crown and a bronze 
statue, to show their sense of his character and loving 
care ; and whereas he has passed his accounts as the law 
requires, the Senate and the People wishing to show due 
honour to such Rectors as serve with merit and impartiality, 
Resolve to praise Dionysius, late Rector of the Ephebi of 
last year and to present him with a golden crown, and 
have proclamation made thereof in the great festival of 
Dionysus, and also at the athletic contests of the Panatha- 
naic and Eleusinian feasts.' 



Selection from the Panegyric on Saint Basil, by Gregory 

Nazienzen 

15. We were contained by Athens, like two branches 
of some river-stream, for after leaving the common foun- 
tain of our fatherland, we had been separated on our 
varying pursuits of culture, and were now again united by 
the impulsion of God no less than by our own agreement. 
I preceded him by a little, but he soon followed me, to be 
welcomed with great and brilliant hopes. For he was 
versed in many languages, before his arrival, and it was 
a great thing for either of us to outstrip the other in the 
attainment of some object of our study. And I may well 
add as a seasoning to my speech, a short narrative, which 
will be a reminder to those who know it, a source of infor- 
mation to those who do not. Most of the young men at 
Athens in their folly are mad after rhetorical skill — not 
only those who are ignobly born and unknown, but even 
the noble and illustrious, in the general mass of young 
men difficult to keep under control. They are just like 
men devoted to horses and exhibitions, as we see, at the 
horse races ; they leap,^ they shout, raise clouds of dust, 

^ This passage refers to the speculators who unite in sympathy with, and 
in their excitement, imitate, as far as possible, the actions of those who drive 
the chariots in the races. 



3o6 Source Book of the History of Education 

they drive in their seats, they beat the air (instead of the 
horses) with their fingers as whips, they yoke and unyoke 
the horses, though they are none of theirs ; they readily 
exchange with one another drivers, horses, positions, 
leaders ; and who are they who do this ? Often poor and 
needy fellows, without the means of support for a single 
day. This is just how the students feel in regard to their 
own tutors, and their rivals, in their eagerness to increase 
their own numbers and thereby enrich them. The matter 
is absolutely absurd and silly. Cities, roads, harbours, 
mountain tops, coast lines are seized upon — in short, 
every part of Attica, or of the rest of Greece, with most of 
the inhabitants ; for even these they have divided between 
the rival parties. 

1 6. Whenever any newcomer arrives and falls into the 
hands of those who seize upon him, either by force or 
willingly, they observe this Attic law, of combined jest and 
earnest. He is first conducted to the house of one of 
those who were the first to receive him, or of his friends, 
or kinsmen, or countrymen, or of those who are eminent 
in debating power and purveyors of arguments and there- 
fore especially honoured among them ; and their reward 
consists in the gain of adherents. He is next subjected 
to the raillery of any one who will, with the intention, I 
suppose, of checking the conceit of the newcomers, and 
reducing them to subjection at once. The raillery is of a 
more argumentative or insolent kind, according to the 
refinement or boorishness of the railer : and the. perform- 
ance which seems very fearful and brutal to those who do 
not know it, is to those who have experienced it, very 
pleasant and humane : for its threats are feigned rather 
than real. Next he is conducted, in procession, from the 
market place to the bath. The procession is formed by 
those who are charged with it in the young man's honour, 
who arrange themselves in two ranks separated by an 
interval, and precede him to the bath. But when they 
have approached it, they shout and leap wildly, as if pos- 
sessed, shouting that they must not advance, but stay, 
since the bath will not admit them ; and at the same time 
frighten the youth by furiously knocking at the doors ; 
then allowing him to enter, they present him with his 



Cosmopolitafi Greek Education 307 

freedom, and receive him after the bath as an equal and 
one of themselves. This they considered the most pleas- 
ant part of the ceremony, as being a speedy change and 
release from annoyances. On this occasion I not only 
refused to put to shame my friend, the great Basil, out of 
respect for the gravity of his character, and the ripeness 
of his reasoning powers, but also persuaded all the rest of 
the students to treat him likewise, who happened not to 
know him. For he was from the first, respected by most 
of them, his reputation having preceded him. The result 
was that he was the only one to escape the general rule, 
and be accorded a greater honour than belongs to a fresh- 
man's position. 



Selections from the Discourse touching the Training of 
Children^ by Plutarch ^ 

I. The course which ought to be taken for the training 
of free-born children, and the means whereby their man- 
ners may be rendered virtuous, will, with the reader's leave, 
be the subject of our present disquisition. 



4. . . . What we are wont to say of arts and sciences may Three things 
be said also concerning virtue : that there is a concurrence of requisite for 
three things requisite to the completing thereof in practice, ^aturV 
— which are nature, reason, and use. Now by reason here reason', and 
I would be understood to mean learning ; and by use, ex- use. 
ercise. Now the principles come from instruction, the 
practice comes from exercise, and perfection from all three 
combined. And accordingly as either of the three is de- 
ficient, virtue must needs be defective. For if nature be 
not improved by instruction, it is blind ; if instruction be 
not assisted by nature, it is maimed ; and if exercise fail 
of the assistance of both, it is imperfect as to the attain- 
ment of its end. And as in husbandry it is first requisite 
that the soil be fertile, next that the husbandman be skil- 

1 Translation by Simon Ford, D.D., in Professor W. W. Goodwin's edition 
of Plutarch's Morals. 



3o8 Sotirce Book of the History of Education 

ful, and lastly that the seed he sows be good ; so here 
nature resembles the soil, the instructor of youth the hus- 
bandman, and the rational principles and precepts which 
are taught, the seed. And I would peremptorily afifirm 
that all these met and jointly conspired to the completing 
of the souls of those universally celebrated men, Pythag- 
oras, Socrates, and Plato, together with all others whose 
eminent worth hath gotten them immortal glory. And 
happy is that man certainly, and well-beloved of the Gods, 
on whom by the bounty of any of them all these are con- 
ferred. 

And yet if any one thinks that those in whom Nature 
hath not thoroughly done her part may not in some meas- 
ure make up her defects, if they be so happy as to light 
upon good teaching, and withal apply their own industry 
towards the attainment of virtue, he is to know that he is 
very much, nay, altogether, mistaken. For as a good 
natural capacity may be impaired by slothfulness, so dull 
and heavy natural parts may be improved by instruction ; 
and whereas neghgent students arrive not at the capacity 
of understanding the most easy things, those who are in- 
dustrious conquer the greatest difficulties. And many 
instances we may observe, that give us a clear demonstra- 
tion of the mighty force and successful efficacy of labor 
and industry. For water continually dropping will wear 
hard rocks hollow ; yea, iron and brass are worn out with 
constant handling. Nor can we, if we would, reduce the 
felloes of a cart-wheel to their former straightness, when 
once they have been bent by force ; yea, it is above the 
power of force to straighten the bended staves sometimes 
The care of used by actors upon the stage. So far is that which labor 
children. effects, though against nature, more potent than what is 
produced according to it. . . . 

5. The next thing that falls under our consideration is 
the nursing of children, which, in my judgment, the mothers 
should do themselves. . . . For childhood is a tender 
thing, and easily wrought into any shape. Yea, and the very 
souls of children readily receive the impressions of those 
things that are dropped into them while they are yet but 
soft ; but when they grow older, they will, as all hard things 
are, be more difficult to be wrought upon. And as soft 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 



309 



wax is apt to take the stamp of the seal, so are the minds 
of children to receive the instructions imprinted on them 
at that age. Whence, also, it seems to me good advice 
which divine Plato ^ gives to nurses, not to tell all sorts of 
common tales to children in infancy, lest thereby their 
minds should chance to be filled with foolish and corrupt 
notions. The like good counsel Phocylides, the poet, 
seems to give in this verse of his : — 

* If we'll have virtuous children, we should choose 
Their tenderest age good principles to infuse.' 

6. Nor are we to omit taking due care, in the first place, 
that those children who are appointed to attend upon such 
young nurslings, and to be bred with them for play-fellows, 
be well-mannered, and next that they speak plain, natural 
Greek ; lest, being constantly used to converse with per- 
sons of a barbarous language and evil manners, they re- 
ceive corrupt tinctures from them. For it is a true proverb, 
that if you live with a lame man, you will learn to halt. 

7. Next, when a child is arrived at such an age as to be Choice of a 
put under the care of pedagogues, great care is to be used pedagogue, 
that we be not deceived in them, and so commit our chil- 
dren to slaves or barbarians or cheating fellows. For it is 

a course never enough to be laughed at which many men 
nowadays take in this affair ; for if any of their servants 
be better than the rest, they dispose some of them to fol- 
low husbandry, some to navigation, some to merchandise, 
some to be stewards in their houses, and some, lastly, to 
put out their money to use for them. But if they find any 
slave that is a drunkard or a glutton, and unfit for any 
other business, to him they assign the government of their 
children ; whereas, a good pedagogue ought to be such a 
one in his disposition as Phoenix, tutor to Achilles, was. 

And now I come to speak of that which is a greater Choice of 
matter, and of more concern than any that I have said. 
We are to look after such masters for our children as are 
blameless in their lives, not justly reprovable for their man- 
ners, and of the best experience in teaching. For the very 
spring and root of honesty and virtue lies in the felicity of 

1 Plato, Republic, II. 377; p. 139 of this volume. 



teachers. 



3IO Source Book of the History of Education 

lighting on good education. And as husbandmen are wont 
to set forks to prop up feeble plants, so do honest school- 
masters prop up youth by careful instructions and admoni- 
tions, that they may duly bring forth the buds of good 
manners. But there are certain fathers nowadays who 
deserve that men should spit on them in contempt, who, 
before making any proof of those to whom they design to 
commit the teaching of their children, either through un- 
acquaintance, or, as it sometimes falls out, through unskil- 
fulness, intrust them to men of no good reputation, or, it 
may be, such as are branded with infamy. Although they 
are not altogether so ridiculous, if they offend herein 
through unskilf ulness ; but it is a thing most extremely ab- 
surd, when, as oftentimes it happens, though they know 
and are told beforehand, by those who understand better 
than themselves, both of the inability and rascality of cer- 
tain schoolmasters, they nevertheless commit the charge 
of their children to them, sometimes overcome by their 
fair and flattering speeches, and sometimes prevailed on to 
gratify friends who entreat them. This is an error of like 
nature with that of the sick man, who, to please his friends, 
forbears to send for the physician that might save his life 
by his skill, and employs a mountebank that quickly dis- 
patcheth him out of the world ; or of him who refuses a 
skilful shipmaster, and then, at his friend's entreaty, com- 
mits the care of his vessel to one that is therein much his 
inferior. In the name of Jupiter and all the Gods, tell me 
how can that man deserve the name of a father, who is more 
concerned to gratify others in their requests, than to have 
his children well educated.? Or, is not that rather fitly ap- 
plicable to this case, which Socrates, that ancient philoso- 
pher, was wont to say, — that, if he could get up to the 
highest place in the city, he would lift up his voice and 
make this proclamation thence : " What mean you, fellow- 
citizens, that you thus turn every stone to scrape wealth 
together, and take so little care of your children, to whom, 
one day, you must relinquish it all ) " — to which I would 
add this, that such parents do like him that is solicitous 
about his shoe, but neglects the foot that is to wear it. 
And yet many fathers there are, who so love their money 
and hate their children, that, lest it should cost them more 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 311 

than they are willing to spare to hire a good schoolmaster 
for them, they rather choose such persons to instruct their 
children as are of no worth ; thereby beating down the 
market, that they may purchase ignorance cheap. It was, 
therefore, a witty and handsome jeer which Aristippus be- 
stowed on a sottish father, who asked him what he would 
take to teach his child. He answered, A thousand drachms. 
Whereupon the other cried out : O Hercules, what a price 
you ask ! for I can buy a slave at that rate. Do so, then, 
said the philosopher, and thou shalt have two slaves instead 
of one, — thy son for one, and him thou buyest for another. 
Lastly, how absurd it is, when thou accustomest thy chil- 
dren to take their food with their right hands, and chidest 
them if they receive it with their left, yet thou takest no 
care at all that the principles that are infused into them be 
right and regular. ... 

8. In brief therefore I say (and what I say may Importance 
justly challenge the repute of an oracle rather than of ofeducation. 
advice), that the one chief thing in this matter — which 
compriseth the beginning, middle, and end of all — is good 
education and regular instruction ; and that these two afford 
great help and assistance towards the attainment of virtue 
and felicity. For all other good things are but human and 
of small value, such as will hardly recompense the industy 
required to the getting of them. It is, indeed, a desirable 
thing to be well descended ; but the glory belongs to our 
ancestors. Riches are valuable ; but they are the goods of 
Fortune, who frequently takes them from those that have 
them, and carries them to those that never so much as 
hoped for them. Yea, the greater they are, the fairer 
mark are they for those to aim at who design to make our 
bags their prize ; I mean evil servants and accusers. But 
the weightiest consideration of all is, that riches may be 
enjoyed by the worst as well as the best of men. Glory 
is a thing deserving respect, but unstable ; beauty is a 
prize that men fight to obtain, but, when obtained, it is of 
little continuance ; health is a precious enjoyment, but 
easily impaired ; strength is a thing desirable, but apt to 
be the prey of diseases and old age. And, in general, let 
any man who values himself upon strength of body know 
that he makes a great mistake ; for what indeed is any 



312 Source Book of the History of Education | 

j 

proportion of human strength, if compared to that of other j 
animals, such as elephants and bulls and lions ? But learn- 
ing alone, of all things in our possession, is immortal and 
divine. And two things there are that are most pecuhar 
to human nature, reason and speech ; of which two, reason 
is the master of speech, and speech is the servant of reason, 
impregnable against all assaults of fortune, not to be taken 
away by false accusation, nor impaired by sickness, nor en- 
feebled by old age. For reason alone grows youthful by 
age ; and time, which decays all other things, increaseth 
knowledge in us in our decaying years. Yea, war itself, 
which like a winter torrent bears down all other things 
before it and carries them away with it, leaves learning 
alone behind. Whence the answer seems to me very 
remarkable, which Stilpo, a philosopher of Megara, gave 
to Demetrius, who, when he levelled that city to the 
ground and made all the citizens bondmen, asked Stilpo 
whether he had lost anything. Nothing, said he, for war 
cannot plunder virtue. To this saying that of Socrates also 
is very agreeable ; who, when Gorgias (as I take it) asked 
him what his opinion was of the king of Persia, and 
whether he judged him happy, returned answer, that he 
could not tell what to think of him, because he knew not 
how he was furnished with virtue and learning, — as judg- 
ing human felicity to consist in those endowments, and not 
in those which are subject to fortune. 

9. Moreover, as it is my advice to parents that they 
make the breeding up of their children to learning the 
chiefest of their care, so I here add, that the learning 
they ought to train them up unto should be sound and 
wholesome, and such as is most remote from those trifles 
Speak only which suit the popular humor. For to please the many is 
on proper ^q displease the wise. To this saying of mine that of 
Euripides himself bears witness : — 

I'm better skilled to treat a few, my peers, 

Than in a crowd to tickle vulgar ears ; 

Though others have the luck on't, when they babble 

Most to the wise, then most to please the rabble.^ 



Euripides, Hippolyius, 986. 



occasions. 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 313 

If any one ask what the next thing is wherein I would Preparation 
have children instructed, and to what further 2:ood qualities necessary for 
I would have them inured, I answer, that I think it advis- f^^ action, 
able that they neither speak nor do anything rashly ; for, 
according to the proverb, the best things are the most 
difficult. But extemporary discourses are full of much 
ordinary and loose stuff, nor do such speakers well know 
where to begin or where to make an end. And besides 
other faults which those who speak suddenly are com- 
monly guilty of, they are commonly liable to this 
great one, that they multiply words without meas- 
ure ; whereas, premeditation will not suffer a man to 
enlarge his discourse beyond a due proportion. To this 
purpose it is reported of Pericles, that, being often called 
upon by the people to speak, he would not, because (as he 
said) he was unprepared. And Demosthenes also, who 
imitated him in the managery of public affairs, when the 
Athenians urged him to give his counsel, refused it with 
this answer : I have not yet prepared myself. Though it 
may be that this story is a mere fiction, brought down to 
us by uncertain tradition, without any credible author. 
But Demosthenes, in his oration against Midias, clearly 
sets forth the usefulness of premeditation. For there he . 
says : " I confess, O ye Athenians ! that I came hither 
provided to speak ; and I will by no means deny that I 
have spent my utmost study upon the composing this 
oration. For it had been a pitiful omission in me, if, 
having suffered and still suffering such things, I should 
have neglected that which in this cause was to be spoken 
by me." But here I would not be understood altogether 
to condemn all readiness to discourse extempore, nor yet 
to allow the use of it upon such occasions as do not require 
it ; but we are to use it only as we do physic. Still, before 
a person arrives at complete manhood, I would not permit 
him to speak upon any sudden incident occasion ; though, 
after he has attained a radicated faculty of speaking, he 
may allow himself a greater liberty, as opportunity is 
offered. For as they who have been a long time in chains, 
when they are at last set at liberty, are unable to walk, on 
account of their former continual restraint, and are very 
apt to trip, so they who have been used to a fettered way 



314 Source Book of the History of Education 



Simplicity of 

speech 

advised. 



Philosophy 
should be 
the chief 
pursuit. 



of speaking a great while, if upon any occasion they be 
enforced to speak on a sudden, will hardly be able to 
express themselves without some tokens of their former 
confinement. But to permit those that are yet children 
to speak extemporarily is to give them occasion for 
extremely idle talk. A wretched painter, they say, show- 
ing Apelles a picture, told him withal that he had taken a 
very little time to paint it. If thou hadst not told me so, 
said Apelles, I see cause enough to believe it was a hasty 
draught ; but I wonder that in that space of time thou hast 
not painted many more such pictures. 

I advise therefore (for I return now to the subject that 
I have disgressed from) the shunning and avoiding, not 
merely of a starched, theatrical, and over-tragical form of 
speaking, but also of that which is too low and mean. For 
that which is too swelling is not fit for the managery of 
pubHc affairs ; and that, on the other side, which is too 
thin is very inapt to work any notable impression upon the 
hearers. For as it is not only requisite that a man's body 
be healthy, but also that it be of a firm constitution, so 
ought a discourse to be not only sound, but nervous also. 
For though such as is composed cautiously may be com- 
mended, yet that is all it can arrive at ; whereas that which 
hath some adventurous passages in it is admired also. 
And my opinion is the same concerning the affections of 
the speaker's mind. For he must be neither of a too con- 
fident nor of a too mean and dejected spirit ; for the one 
is apt to lead to impudence, the other to servility ; and 
much of the orator's art, as well as great circumspection, is 
required to direct his course skilfully betwixt the two. . . . 

10. Wherefore, though we ought not to permit an in- 
genuous child entirely to neglect any of the common sorts 
of learning, so far as they may be gotten by lectures or 
from public shows ; yet I would have him to salute these 
only as in his passage, taking a bare taste of each of them 
(seeing no man can possibly attain to perfection in all), and 
to give philosophy the pre-eminence of them all. I can 
illustrate my meaning by an example. It is a fine thing 
to sail round and visit many cities, but it is profitable to 
fix our dwelling in the best. . . . Whence it follows, that 
we ought to make philosophy the chief of all our learning. 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 315 

For though, in order to the welfare of the body, the in- 
dustry of men hath found out two arts, — medicine, which 
assists to the recovery of lost health and gymnastics, which 
help us to attain a sound constitution, — yet there is but 
one remedy for the distempers and diseases of the mind, 
and that is philosophy. For by the advice and assistance 
thereof it is that we come to understand what is honest, 
and what dishonest; what is just, and what unjust; in a 
word, what we are to seek, and what to avoid. We learn 
by it how we are to demean ourselves towards the Gods, Its 
towards our parents, our elders, the laws, strangers, gov- advantages, 
ernors, friends, wives, children, and servants. That is, we 
are to worship the Gods, to honor our parents, to reverence 
our elders, to be subject to the laws, to obey our governors, 
to love our friends, to use sobriety towards our wives, to 
be affectionate to our children, and not to treat our ser- 
vants insolently; and (which is the chiefest lesson of all) 
not to be overjoyed in prosperity nor too much dejected 
in adversity ; not to be dissolute in our pleasures, nor in 
our anger to be transported with brutish rage and fury. 
These things I account the principal advantages which we 
gain by philosophy. For to use prosperity generously is 
the part of a man ; to manage it so as to decline envy, of 
a well governed man ; to master our pleasures by reason 
is the property of wise men ; and to moderate anger is the 
attainment only of extraordinary men. But those of all 
men I count most complete, who know how to mix and 
temper the managery of civil affairs with philosophy ; see- 
ing they are thereby masters of two of the greatest good 
things that are, — a life of public usefulness as statesmen, 
and a life of calm tranquillity as students of philosophy. 
For, whereas there are three sorts of lives, — the life of 
action, the life of contemplation, and the life of pleasure, 
— the man who is utterly abandoned and a slave to pleas- 
ure is brutish and mean-spirited ; he that spends his time 
in contemplation without action is an unprofitable man ; 
and he that Hves in action and is destitute of philosophy 
is a rustical man, and commits many absurdities. Where- 
fore we are to apply our utmost endeavor to enable our- 
selves for both ; that is, to manage public employment, 
and withal, at convenient seasons, to give ourselves to 



31 6 Sotirce Book of the History of Education 



Value of 
literature in 
education. 



Importance 

of 

gymnastic. 



philosophical studies. Such statesmen were Pericles and 
Archytas ^ the Tarentine ; such were Dion ^ the Syracusan 
and Epaminondas ^ the Theban, both of whom were of 
Plato's familiar acquaintance. 

I think it not necessary to spend many more words 
about this point, the instruction of children in learning. 
Only it may be profitable at least, or even necessary, not 
to omit procuring for them the writings of ancient authors, 
but to make such a collection of them as husbandmen are 
wont to do of all needful tools. For of the same nature is 
the use of books to scholars, as being the tools and instru- 
ments of learning, and withal enabling them to derive 
knowledge from its proper fountains. 

II. In the next place, the exercise of the body must not 
be neglected ; but children must be sent to schools of 
gymnastics, where they may have sufificient employment 
that way also. This will conduce partly to a more hand- 
some carriage, and partly to the improvement of their 
strength. For the foundation of a vigorous old age is a 
good constitution of the body in childhood. Wherefore, 
as it is expedient to provide those things in fair weather 
which may be useful to the mariners in a storm, so it is to 
keep good order and govern ourselves by rules of temper- 
ance in youth, as the best provision we can lay in for age. 
Yet must they husband their strength, so as not to become 
dried up (as it were) and destitute of strength to follow 
their studies. For, according to Plato, sleep and weari- 
ness are enemies to the arts. 

But why do I stand so long on these things .'' I hasten 
to speak of that which is of the greatest importance, even 
beyond all that has been spoken of ; namely, I would have 
boys trained for the contests of wars by practice in the 

1 A famous geometrician and astronomer, who was seven times elected 
governor of his native city during the fourth century B.C. 

* A pupil of Plato, and a scholar attached to the court of Dionysius the I 
Elder and Dionysius the Younger of Syracuse. The latter tyrant he over- " ' 
threw, substituting for his sway the rule of a philosopher. This proved un- 
popular, and Dion was overthrown and slain, 354 B.C. 

3 The soldier and statesman who raised Thebes to the hegemony of Greece. 
Killed in the battle of Mantinea, 362 B.C. 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 317 

throwing of darts, shooting of arrows, and hunting of wild 
beasts. For we must remember in war the goods of the 
conquered are proposed as rewards to the conquerors. Preparation 
But war does not agree with a dehcate habit of body, used ^^"^ w"- 
only to the shade ; for even one lean soldier that hath been 
used to military exercises shall overthrow whole troops of 
mere wrestlers who know nothing of war. But, somebody 
may say, whilst you profess to give precepts for the edu- 
cation of all free-born children, why do you carry the mat- 
ter so as to seem only to accommodate those precepts to 
the rich, and neglect to suit them also to the children of 
poor men and plebeians.? To which objection it is no 
difficult thing to reply. For it is my desire that all chil- 
dren whatsoever may partake of the benefit of education 
alike ; but if yet any persons, by reason of the narrowness 
of their estates, cannot make use of my precepts, let them 
not blame me that give them, but Fortune, which disableth 
them from making the advantage by them they otherwise 
might. Though even poor men must use their utmost 
endeavor to give their children the best education ; or, if 
they cannot, they must bestow upon them the best that 
their abilities will reach. Thus much I thought fit here 
to insert in the body of my discourse, that I might the 
better be enabled to annex what I have yet to add con- 
cerning the right training of children. 

12. I say now, that children are to be won to follow 
liberal studies by exhortations and rational motives, and 
on no account to be forced thereto by whipping or any 
other contumelious punishments. I will not urge that 
such usage seems to be more agreeable to slaves than to 
ingenuous children ; and even slaves, when thus handled, 
are dulled and discouraged from the performance of their 
tasks, partly by reason of the smart of their stripes, and Use exhor- 
partly because of the disgrace thereby inflicted. But Jation and 
praise and reproof are more effectual upon free-born chil- punishment, 
dren than any such disgraceful handling; the former to 
incite them to what is good, and the latter to restrain them 
from that which is evil. But we must use reprehensions 
and commendations alternately, and of various kinds ac- 
cording to the occasion ; so that when they grow petulant, 
they may be shamed by reprehension, and again, when 



3i8 Source Book of the History of Education 



Evil of over- 
training. 



Parent must 
cooperate 
with teacher. 



they better deserve it, they may be encouraged by com- 
mendations. Wherein we ought to imitate nurses, who, 
when they have made their infants cry, stop their mouths 
with the nipple to quiet them again. It is also useful not 
to give them such large commendations as to puff them 
up with pride ; for this is the ready way to fill them with 
a vain conceit of themselves, and to enfeeble their minds. 

13. Moreover, I have seen some parents whose too 
much love to their children hath occasioned, in truth, their 
not loving them at all. I will give light to this assertion 
by an example to those who ask what it means. It is 
this : while they are over-hasty to advance their children 
in all sorts of learning beyond their equals, they set them 
too hard and laborious tasks, whereby they fall under dis- 
couragement ; and this, with other inconveniences accom- 
panying it, causeth them in the issue to be ill affected to 
learning itself. For as plants by moderate watering are 
nourished, but with over-much moisture are glutted, so is 
the spirit improved by moderate labors, but overwhelmed 
by such as are excessive. We ought therefore to give chil- 
dren some time to take breath from their constant labors, 
considering that all human life is divided betwixt business 
and relaxation. To which purpose it is that we are in- 
clined by nature not only to wake, but to sleep also ; that 
as we have sometimes wars, so likewise at other times 
peace ; as some foul, so other fair days ; and, as we have 
seasons of important business, so also the vacation times 
of festivals. And, to contract all in a word, rest is the 
sauce of labor. Nor it is thus in living creatures only, but 
in things inanimate too. For even in bows and harps, we 
loosen their strings, that we may bend and wind them up 
again. Yea, it is universally seen that, as the body is 
maintained by repletion and evacuation, so is the mind by 
employment and relaxation. 

Those parents, moreover, are to be blamed who, when 
they have committed their sons to the care of pedagogues or 
schoolmasters, never see or hear them perform their tasks ; 
wherein they fail much of their duty. For they ought, ever 
and anon, after the intermission of some days, to make trial 
of their children's proficiency ; and not intrust their hopes 
of them to the discretion of a hireling. For even that sort 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 



319 



of men will take more care of the children, when they 
know that they are regularly to be called to account. And 
here the sayings of the king's groom is very applicable, 
that nothing made the horse so fat as the king's eye. 

But we must most of all exercise and keep in constant 
employment the memory of children ; for that is, as it 
were, the storehouse of all learning. Wherefore the my- 
thologists have made Mnemosyne, or Memory, the mother 
of the Muses, plainly intimating thereby that nothing doth 
so beget or nourish learning as memory. Wherefore we 
must employ it to both those purposes, whether the chil- 
dren be naturally apt or backward to remember. For so 
shall we both strengthen it in those to whom Nature in 
this respect hath been bountiful, and supply that to others 
wherein she hath been deficient. And as the former sort 
of boys will thereby come to excel others, so will the latter 
sort excel themselves. For that of Hesiod was well said, — 

Oft little add to little, and the account 

Will swell : heapt atoms thus produce a mount. ^ 

Neither, therefore, let the parents be ignorant of this, 
that the exercising of memory in the schools doth not only 
give the greatest assistance towards the attainment of 
learning, but also to all the actions of life. For the re- 
membrance of things past affords us examples in our con- 
sults about things to come. 

14. Children ought to be made to abstain from speak- 
ing filthily, seeing, as Democritus said, words are but the 
shadows of actions. They are, moreover, to be instructed 
to be affable and courteous in discourse. For as churhsh 
manners are always detestable, so children may be kept 
from being odious in conversation, if they will not be per- 
tinaciously bent to maintain all they say in dispute. For 
it is of use to a man to understand not only how to over- 
come, but also how to give ground when to conquer would 
turn to his disadvantage. For there is such a thing some- 
times as a Cadmean victory ; which the wise Euripides 
attesteth, when he saith, — 

Where two discourse, if the one's anger rise, 
The man who lets the contest fall is wise.^ 



Improve the 
memory. 



Importance 

of 

moderation. 



1 Hesiod, Works and Days, 371. 2 Euripides, Protesilaus, Frag, 656. 



320 Source Book of the History of Education 

Add we now to these things some others of which chil- 
dren ought to have no less, yea, rather greater care ; to 
wit, that they avoid luxurious living, bridle their tongues, 
subdue anger, and refrain their hands. Of how great 
moment each of these counsels is, I now come to inquire ; 
and we may best judge of them by examples. To begin 
with the last: some men there have been, who, by open- 
ing their hands to take what they ought not, have lost all 
the honor they got in the former part of their lives. So 
Gylippus the Lacedaemonian, for unsewing the public 
money-bags, was condemned to banishment from Sparta. 
And to be able also to subdue anger is the part of a wise 
man. Such a one was Socrates ; for when a hectoring 
and debauched young man rudely kicked him, so that 
those in his company, being sorely offended, were ready 
to run after him and call him to account for it. What, said 
he to them, if an ass had kicked me, would you think it 
handsomely done to kick him again } And yet the young 
man himself escaped not unpunished ; for when all per- 
sons reproached him for so unworthy an act, and gave him 
the nickname of KaKriair]'^ or the kicker, he hanged him- 
self. The same Socrates, — when Aristophanes, publish- 
ing his play which he called the Clouds, therein threw all 
sorts of the foulest reproaches upon him, and a friend of 
his, who was present at the acting of it, repeated to him 
what was there said in the same comical manner, asking 
him withal. Does not this offend you, Socrates .-• — replied: 
Not at all, for I can as well bear with a fool in a play as 
at a great feast. And something of the same nature is 
reported to have been done by Archytas of Tarentum and 
Plato. Archytas, when, upon his return from the war, 
wherein he had been a general, he was informed that his 
land had been impaired by his bailiff's negligence, sent for 
him, and said only thus to him when he came : If I were 
not very angry with thee, I would severely correct thee. 
And Plato, being offended with a gluttonous and de- 
bauched servant, called to him Speusippus, his sister's 
son, and said unto him : Go beat thou this fellow ; for 
I am too much offended with him to do it myself. 

These things, you will perhaps say, are very difficult to 
be imitated. I confess it; but yet we must endeavor to 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 321 

the utmost of our power, by setting such examples be- 
fore us, to repress the extravagancy of our immoderate, 
furious anger. For neither are we able to rival the expe- 
rience or virtue of such men in many other matters ; but 
we do, nevertheless, as sacred interpreters of divine mys- 
teries and priests of wisdom, strive to follow these examples, 
and, as it were, to enrich ourselves with what we can nibble 
from them. 

And as to bridHng of the tongue, concerning which also 
I am obliged to speak, if any man think it a small matter 
or of mean concernment, he is much mistaken. For it is 
a point of wisdom to be silent when occasion requires, and 
better than to speak, though never so well. And, in my 
judgment, for this reason the ancients instituted mystical 
rites of initiation in religion, that, being in them accustomed 
to silence, we might thence transfer the fear we have of 
the Gods to the fidelity required in human secrets. Yea, 
indeed, experience shows that no man ever repented of 
having kept silence ; but many that they have not done so. 
And a man may, when he will, easily utter what he hath 
by silence concealed ; but it is impossible for him to recall 
what he hath once spoken. And, moreover, I can remem- 
ber infinite examples that have been told me of those that 
have procured great damages to themselves by intemper- 
ance of the tongue ; one or two of which I will give, omit- 
ting the rest. 

. . . Besides all these things, we are to accustom chil- Truthful- 
dren to speak the truth, and to account it, as indeed it is, ""^• 
a matter of religion for them to do so. For lying is a ser- 
vile quahty, deserving the hatred of all mankind ; yea, 
a fault for which we ought not to forgive our meanest 

servants. 

******* 

16. ... Thus far have I discoursed concerning the 
right ordering and decent carriage of children. I will 
now pass thence, to speak somewhat concerning the next 
age, that of youth. For I have often blamed the evil cus- Youthful 
tom of some, who commit their boys in childhood to peda- j"°^^ ^^^ 
gogues and teachers, and then suffer the impetuosity of " 
their youth to range without restraint ; whereas boys of 
that age need to be kept under a stricter guard than chil- 



3^2 Source Book of the History of Education 

dren. For who does not know that the errors of childhood 
are small, and perfectly capable of being amended ; such 
as slighting their pedagogues, or disobedience to their 
teachers' instructions. But when they begin to grow 
towards maturity, their offences are oftentimes very great 
and heinous. . . . Wherefore it is expedient that such 
impetuous heats should with great care be kept under 
and restrained. For the ripeness of that age admits no 
bounds in its pleasures, is skittish, and needs a curb to 
check it ; so that those parents who do not hold in their 
sons with great strength about that time find to their sur- 
prise that they are giving their vicious incHnations full 
swing in the pursuit of the vilest actions. Wherefore it 
is a duty incumbent upon wise parents, in that age espe- 
cially, to set a strict watch upon them, and to keep them 
within the bounds of sobriety by instructions, threatenings, 
entreaties, counsels, promises, and by laying before them 
examples of those men (on one side) who by immoderate 
love of pleasures have brought themselves into great mis- 
chief, and of those (on the other) who by abstinence in the 
pursuit of them have purchased to themselves very great 
praise and glory. For these two things (hope of honor, 
and fear of punishment) are, in a sort, the first elements 
of virtue ; the former whereof spurs men on the more 
eagerly to the pursuit of honest studies, while the latter 
blunts the edge of their incHnations to vicious courses. 

17. And in sum, it is necessary to restrain young men 
from the conversation of debauched persons, lest they take 
Rules for infection from their evil examples. This was taught by 
conduct. Pythagoras in certain enigmatical sentences, which I shall 
here relate and expound, as being greatly useful to further 
virtuous inclinations. Such are these. Taste not of fish 
that have black tails ; that is converse not with men that are 
smutted with vicious qualities. Stride not over the beam 
of the scales ; wherein he teacheth us the regard we ought 
to have for justice, so as not to go beyond its measures. 
Sit not on a choenix ; ^ wherein he forbids sloth, and re- 
quires us to take care to provide ourselves with the neces- 
saries of life. Do not strike hands with every man ; he 
means we ought not to be over hasty to make acquaintances 

1 A Greek measure ; approximately, a quart cup. 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 323 

or friendships with others. Wear not a tight ring ; that is, 
we are to labor after a free and independent way of living, 
and to submit to no fetters. Stir not up the fire with a 
sword ; signifying that we ought not to provoke a man 
more when he is angry already (since this is a most un- 
seemingly act), but we should rather comply with him while 
his passion is'in its heat. Eat not thy heart ; which for- 
bids to afflict our souls, and waste them with vexatious 
cares. Abstain from beans ; that is, keep out of public 
offices, for anciently the choice of the officers of state was 
made by beans. Put not food in a pot ; wherein he declares 
that elegant discourse ought not to be put into an impure 
mind; for discourse is the food of the mind, which is ren- 
dered unclean by the foulness of the man who receives it. 
When men are arrived at the goal, they should not turn 
back ; that is, those who are near the end of their days, 
and see the period of their lives approaching, ought to en- 
tertain it contentedly, and not to be grieved at it. 

But to return from this digression — our children, as 
I have said, are to be debarred the company of all evil 
men, but especially flatterers. For I would still affirm Danger of 
what I have often said in the presence of divers fathers, flatterers, 
that there is not a more pestilent sort of men than these, 
nor any that more certainly and speedily hurry youth into 
precipices. Yea, they utterly ruin both fathers and sons, 
making the old age of the one and the youth of the other 
full of sorrow, while they cover the hook of their evil coun- 
sels with the unavoidable bait of voluptuousness. Parents, 
when they have good estates to leave their children, exhort 
them to sobriety, flatterers to drunkenness; parents exhort 
to continence, these to lasciviousness; parents to good hus- 
bandry, these to prodigality ; parents to industry, these to 
slothfulness. And they usually entertain them with such 
discourses as these : The whole life of man is but a point 
of time ; let us enjoy it therefore while it lasts, and not 
spend it to no purpose. Why should you so much regard 
the displeasure of your father .'' — an old doting fool, with 
one foot already in the grave, and 'tis to be hoped it will not 
be long ere we carry him thither altogether. And some of 
them there are who procure young men foul harlots, yea, 
prostitute wives to them ; and they even make a prey of 



324 Source Book of the History of Education 

those things which the careful fathers have provided for 
the sustenance of their old age. A cursed tribe! True 
friendship's hypocrites, they have no knowledge of plain 
dealing and frank speech. They flatter the rich, and de- 
spise the poor ; and they seduce the young, as by a musi- 
cal charm. When those who feed them begin to laugh, then 
they grin and show their teeth. They are mere counter- 
feits, bastard pretenders to humanity, living at the nod and 
beck of the rich ; free by birth, yet slaves by choice, who 
always think themselves abused when they are not so, be- 
cause they are not supported in idleness at others' cost. 
Wherefore, if fathers have any care for the good breeding 
of their children, they ought to drive such foul beasts as 
these out of doors. They ought also to keep them from 
the companionship of vicious school-fellows, for these are 
able to corrupt the most ingenuous dispositions. 

18. These counsels which I have now given are of great 
worth and importance ; what I now have to add touches 
certain allowances that are to be made to human nature. 
Danger of Again therefore I would not have fathers of an over-rigid 
over- and harsh temper, but so mild as to forgive some slips of 

seventy. youth, remembering that they themselves were once young. 
But as physicians are wont to mix their bitter medicines 
with sweet syrups, to make what is pleasant a vehicle for 
what is wholesome, so should fathers temper the keenness 
of their reproofs with lenity. They may occasionally loosen 
the reins, and allow their children to take some liberties 
they are inclined to, and again, when it is fit, manage them 
with a straighter bridle. But chiefly should they bear their 
errors without passion, if it may be ; and if they chance to 
be heated more than ordinary, they ought not to suffer the 
flame to burn long. For it is better that a father's anger 
be hasty than severe ; because the heaviness of his wrath, 
joined with unplacableness, is no small argument of hatred 
towards the child. It is good also not to discover the no- 
tice they take of divers faults, and to transfer to such cases 
that dimness of sight and hardness of hearing that are wont 
to accompany old age ; so as sometimes not to hear what 
they hear, nor to see what they see, of their children's mis- 
carriages. We use to bear with some failings in our friends, 
and it is no wonder if we do the like to our children, es- 



Cosmopolitan Greek Education 325 

pecially when we sometimes overlook drunkenness in our 
very servants. Thou hast at times been too straight-handed 
to thy son ; make him at other whiles a larger allowance. 
Thou hast, it may be, been too angry with him ; pardon 
him the next fault to make him amends. He hath made 
use of a servant's wit to circumvent thee in something ; re- 
strain thy anger. He hath made bold to take a yoke of 
oxen out of the pasture, or he hath come home smelling of 
his yesterday's drink ; take no notice of it ; and if of oint- 
ments too, say nothing. For by this means the wild colt 
sometimes is made more tame. ... I will add a few words 
more, and put an end to these advices. The chiefest thing Teaching by 
that fathers are to look to is, that they themselves become example, 
effectual examples to their children, by doing all those 
things which belong to them and avoiding all vicious prac- 
tices, that in their lives, as in a glass, their children may 
see enough to give them an aversion to all ill words and 
actions. For those that chide children for such faults as 
they themselves fall into unconsciously accuse themselves, 
under their children's names. And if they are altogether 
vicious in their own lives, they lose the right of reprehend- 
ing their very servants, and much more do they forfeit it 
towards their sons. Yea, what is more than that, they make 
themselves even counsellors and instructors to them in 
wickedness. For where old men are impudent, there of 
necessity must the young men be so too. Wherefore we are 
to apply our minds to all such practices as may conduce to 
the good breeding of our children. And here we may take 
example from Eurydice of Hierapolis, who, although she 
was an Illyrian, and so thrice a barbarian, yet applied her- 
self to learning when she was well advanced in years, that 
she might teach her children. Her love towards her chil- 
dren appears evidently in this Epigram of hers, which she 
dedicated to the Muses : — 

Eurydice to the Muses here doth raise 
This monument, her honest love to praise ; 
Who her grown sons that she might scholars breed, 
Then well in years, herself first learned to read. 

And thus have I finished the precepts which I designed 
to give concerning this subject. But that they should all 



326 Source Book of the History of Education 



be followed by any one reader is rather, I fear, to be 
wished than hoped. And to follow the greater part of 
them, though it may not be impossible to human nature, 
yet will need a concurrence of more than ordinary dili- 
gence joined with good fortune. 



/ PART II 

ROMAN EDUCATION 

I. EARLY ROMAN EDUCATION 

Periods of Roman Education. — Roman education falls 
into two general periods of clearly defined characteristics, 
though the line of demarcation between the two is not 
distinct. The first of these periods is from the earliest 
days to the time when Grecian ideas of life, culture, and 
enjoyment came in and Rome became as cosmopolitan in its 
ideas and manners as it had already become in arms and 
government. The second period dates from this change, 
approximately the middle of the second century B.C., v/hen 
Macedonia was conquered and Greece became a Roman 
province, and includes the latter years of the Republic 
and all of the imperial period. This one contrast between 
the old Roman and the Graeco-Roman period gives that 
which is fundamental to the understanding of the history 
of Roman education. Each of these general periods may 
be again divided into sub-periods, which will be referred 
to as the first, second, third, and fourth periods, while the 
term " general " will be used to indicate the more compre- 
hensive divisions. The historic evolution of Roman educa- 
tion can be better understood by grouping the sources under 
these four periods. The first of these includes the legen- 
dary and the early historic period to the beginning of the 
third century b.c. The second extends to the beginning 

327 



328 Source Book of the History of Education 

of the Graeco-Roman period, 146 B.C. The third dates to 
the rather indefinite time in the second and third Christian 
centuries when Roman society gave general evidence of 
that moral and cultural decline that previously had become 
characteristic of the imperial court. The fourth includes 
the centuries of decadence to the termination of the im- 
perial office in the West. So far as there is anything dis- 
tinctive about the education of this last period that is not 
also true of the later portion of the third period, it centres 
about the opposition between the Christian religion and 
the pagan culture. Since this opposition is more closely 
connected with mediaeval than with classical education, 
the source material is not included here ; none of the pres- 
ent selections date from later than the middle of the 
second Christian century. The general features of the 
education of the later period, so far as they are Roman, 
are similar to those of the second Christian century. 

Sources of Information for the Old Roman Period. — What 
the laws of Moses were to early Hebrew education, the 
laws of Lycurgus to Spartan education, the laws of Solon 
and to a certain extent the Homeric poems to the early 
Athenian education, the Laws of the Twelve Tables were 
to the early education of the Romans. Not only do these 
express the ideals of Roman education, but to a large ex- 
tent they form the subject-matter thereof. Their influence 
is dominant from the time of their formation, the middle of 
the fifth century B.C. to the opening of the first century 
B.C., by which time the Homeric poems and the early Latin 
literature had largely usurped their place. The fragments 
of these tables, preserved and given here, form the most 
important single source for this early period. 

A second source, though not presented here, is the bio- 



Early Roman Education 329 

graphical and traditional material relating to the early 
i Roman heroes. This material performed the same ser- 
j vice for the Romans as did the Homeric poems for the 
I Greeks. It is characteristic of the practical nature of 
j Roman life and education that these stories, whether 
1 truth or fiction, should relate to actual men, not to gods or 
j demigods. Such ideals could be imitated, and so appealed 
to the conscience as well as to the imagination of the child. 
I The Romans, not being a hterary people, did not, Hke the 
i Greeks, put these accounts of their early life into literary 
form; at least, not during this period. Hence it is not 
possible to draw upon them directly as sources ; yet, since 
references to the use of such material as the basis of their 
educational work are abundant, many such are to be found 
in the selections here given. It cannot be doubted that 
Plutarch has given in permanent form much of this mate- 
rial, and that his Lives represents, both in form and sub- 
stance, one phase of the education of this extended period. 
No place has, however, been accorded this material in this 
collection, for it is not very direct evidence. Plutarch's 
ideas on education, representing the best cosmopolitan 
views of the Graeco-Roman period have already been given. 
A third source is found in references to works of this 
period no longer extant. The most important of such 
works is the lost treatise, De liberis educandis, by Cato the 
Censor (b. 234 B.C., d. 149 B.C.), which, according to Quin- 
tilian, is the earliest Roman work on education. A further 
source, represented in this collection, is found in extracts 
from authors of a later period, presenting the ideals, 
methods, or subject-matter of education of these earlier 
days. Such references, though brief, are numerous, and 
are here represented by several selections. 



330 Source Book of the History of Education 

The Laws of the Twelve Tables. — These laws were 
adopted in 45 1 and 450 B.C. To a large extent they are a 
formulation of previous usage, but also contain some new 
elements. These latter were, to some extent, now thought 
to be slight, provisions borrowed from Grecian states relat- { 
ing to the curbing of the privileges enjoyed by patriciansl 
The tradition runs that in 454 a commission of three men' ' 
had been sent abroad to study the laws of Athens and 
other Greek cities. But for the most part in principle and 
in detail the laws are indigenous, and offer marked con 
trasts with Grecian laws. In the period preceding th 
adoption of the tables, there had been great dissatisfactio 
upon the part of the plebs. The consequent agitatio 
led, in the two years mentioned, to the substitution of the 
power of ten men, the decemviri, for that of all the exist- 
ing magistrates. The ten tables are the work of the de- 
cemvirs of 45 1 ; the two supplementary tables are the work 
of the decemvirs of 450. The decemvirs of the latter 
year usurped the power for two succeeding years, but by 
revolution the old form of government was reinstituted 
upon the basis of the new code. These tables aimed at 
two results : first, the defining and publication of the laws 
in order to prevent usurpation and abuse upon the part of 
the patrician magistrates ; and, second, the placing of the 
plebeians and patricians upon an equality. The latter re- 
sult was not secured, but the definite and public form, now 
first given to Roman law, remained the basis of Roman 
polity until the adoption of the Justinian code almost one 
thousand years later (about 430 a.d.). The laws were, 
however, gradually overlaid by the praetorian decisions 
which adapted the laws to existing needs. In time these 
edicts came to be of greater importance than the laws 
themselves. » 



Early Roman Education 331 

Publicity and permanency were first given the laws by 
posting them in the Forum, inscribed on bronze tablets, 
and by requiring that all Roman boys should learn them 
by heart. In this way they became the basis of Roman 
education, so far as it was literary, during all of the two 
earlier educational periods. This requirement, however, 
fell into decay by the opening of the first century before 
Christ, at which time the Grecian education had become 
dominant. For several centuries, first in the homes, then 
in the schools (when they were established), the Laws of 
the Twelve Tables were the basis of the instruction in 
reading, writing, and literary work. Not only did they 
form the most important part of the subject-matter of early 
literary education, but they also expressed the ideals of life 
that dominated this education. 

Neither the order nor the exact wording of the Laws 
of the Twelve Tables is preserved ; but enough has been 
left in the form of fragments, which preserve the exact 
wording, and in the form of numerous references through- 
out Latin literature, which preserve the spirit, to enable 
scholars to restore the tables. Nor is there any certainty 
as to their completeness. The reproduction of these frag- 
ments here given is taken from Prichard and Nasmith's 
translation of Ortolan's Histoire de la Legislation Romaine 
et Ghi^ralisation dii Droit, perhaps the best product of 
modern scholarship on this subject. 

Ideals of Roman Education. — While these fragments of 
the Twelve Tables do not give full expression to the ideals 
which controlled early Roman life and education, they 
give practical form to many of them. The fact most 
clearly indicated by the laws is that even at this early 
date the Romans were a people prone to litigation ; that 



332 Source Book of the History of Education 

is, to the settlement of conflicts of personal rights accord- 
ing to well-defined principles of justice. To the Roman 
the rights of the individual as expressed in property rela- 
tions were more important than to any other early people. 
Hence there was an emphasis laid on, and a place found 
for, individuality, which, while limited and well-defined, 
was more secure than with the Greeks or other early 
peoples. This emphasis on the individual was of an ex- 
tremely practical sort, and revealed itself chiefly in eco- 
nomic affairs. In this respect the Tables give expression 
to the Roman ideal prudentia, the prudence of the practi- 
cal man in the everyday affairs of life, as well as to a 
further practical ideal, honesias, fair dealing in these eco- 
nomic relationships. Though a litigious people, all con- 
flicts of personal rights were to be settled by appeal to 
general principles, — all were subordinate to the Roman 
idea of justice. This was not the Platonic or Grecian 
idea of justice, or of virtue as the resultant of the union 
of all minor virtues. To the Roman it meant the regula- 
tion of private rights by the still more general obligations 
to the state, or, more immediately, the settlement of con- 
flicting claims of individuals according to custom and the 
tradition of their ancestors. In either case it is an ex- 
tremely practical virtue as opposed to the idealism of the 
Greeks. This supremacy of the state and the complete 
subordination of the individual to the welfare of the state 
is expressed in another ideal, virtus, that is, courage, forti- 
tude. While this finds expression in the laws only inci- 
dentally, it is clearly revealed in every other evidence 
relating to early Roman Hfe. The educational expression 
of this ideal is seen in the use of the lives of Roman 
heroes, and of incidents in Roman history, in the forma- 
tion of the character of each succeeding generation. 



Early Roman Education 333 

While the laws are very largely devoted to the regulation 
of personal and property rights, Tables IV. and V. indicate 
the importance of two other ideals. The first is pietas, or 
obedience, — the performance of duties to the gods, to 
ancestors, and to parents and fellow-men, — or as expressed 
positively in the Laws, the absolute supremacy of the 
patria potestas. This ideal again finds expression in Table 
X. on Sacred Laws. These Tables, especially Table X. 
also evidence another ideal, largely rehgious but also affect- 
ing every aspect of Roman life, that is, pttdor, modesty, 
or reverence. To these ideals must be added two others, of 
which we find circumstantial, if not direct, evidence in the 
Twelve Tables, as in every other aspect of Roman history. 
One is cofistantia, or character, manliness, firmness, which 
with virtus gives the chief characteristic of the Roman 
soldier ; the other is gravitas, — or earnestness, seriousness, 
sedateness. To the possession of those two ideals are 
attributable certain aspects of the Roman character that 
are wanting in that of the Greek, and that are of especial 
importance during the early general period when education 
centred so largely in the home. 

The Subject-matter, Method, and Organization of early 
Roman education are not indicated in the one source 
available, save so far as the Tables themselves formed the 
subject-matter. The importance of these laws from this 
point of view is borne out by a brief selection appended, — 
the forty-fourth paragraph of Cicero's De Oratore. This 
was written in the year 55 B.C. and indicates the esteem in 
which the laws were still held from the educational point 
of view, even though they had ceased to hold first place. 
Not only were these laws committed to memory, but they 
were understood and mastered as a source of practical 



334 Source Book of the History of Education 

guidance for after life. In fact, with the Romans the sub- 
ject-matter of education bore directly upon life as it has 
done with few people. The importance of this study from 
the intellectual point of view must also be considered. 
While literature, science, or language made up no part of 
the subject-matter of education during the early period 
(for the use of the Greek had not become common until 
the middle of the third century B.C.), the study of the 
Twelve Tables formed no mean intellectual discipline. 
Both from the disciplinary and the practical point of view 
it would compare favorably with other educational schemes 
having as their nucleus language, literature, or science. In 
addition to this it is also to be remembered that no people, 
either before or since, has made such use of its own history 
in education. History, including biography and the study of 
Roman law, comprised the subject-matter of early Roman 
education. Further evidence on this point will be found 
in succeeding selections. In the sources contrasting the 
early with the later Roman education, as well as in those 
bearing directly upon the later period, the method and the 
organization of education in this early period will be more 
accurately indicated. Discussions of these points will be 
given connection with those periods. 

Fragments of the Laws of the Twelve Tables 

TABLE I 

The Summons before the Magistrate. 

I. " If you summon a man before a magistrate and he 
refuses to go, take witnesses and arrest him." ^ 

1 Where the exact rendering of the law is possible, quotation marks are 
used; where the substance is restored from various sources, quotation marks 
are omitted. , 



Early Roma^t Education 335 

II. " If he attempt evasion or flight, lay hands upon 
him." 

III. " If he be prevented by sickness or old age, let 

him who summons him before the magistrate 
provide the means of transport; but not a 
covered vehicle, unless as an act of benevo- 
lence." 

IV. " For a rich man, a rich man only can be vindex} 

In the case of a proleiarius, any one may be 
vindex." 
V. "If the parties agree, that is to say, come to 
terms, let the suit be stopped and the matter 
arranged." 
VI. " If no arrangement is made between the parties, 
let the cause be entered before midday, either 
in the comitium or in the forum, in the pres- 
ence of both parties." 
VII. "After midday let the magistrate grant judgment 
to the party present." 
VIII. " No step shall be taken in an action after sunset." 
IX. ... 

TABLE II 

Judicial Proceedings. 

I. The provisions of the Twelve Tables upon the 
amount to be deposited, called sacranientiim, 
by the litigants respectively. 
II. "... A serious illness ... an engagement with 
a peregrhws ^ . . . should either of these cir- 
cumstances exist in connection with the judge, 
the arbiter, or one of the litigants, the cause 
must be adjourned." 
III. " Any one who wants a witness must summon him 
by calling upon him in a loud voice, stating 
that he will require his attendance on the third 
day of the market." ^ 

j, * A kind of bail or surety. 

' ^ A stranger or foreigner to the city. 

» The markets took place every ninth day; the third day of the market 
'would be the twenty-seventh day. 



33^ Source Book of the History of Education 

IV. The provision which permitted the compounding 
of a theft. 



TABLE III 

Execution following Confession or Judgment. 

I. " In case of debt either upon confession or iudg- 

ment, the debtor shall have thirty days' grace." 

II. "That term having expired, the plaintiff shall 

have the maniis injectio ^ to bring the debtor 

before the magistrate." 

III. "If the debt is not paid, or surety provided, the 

creditor shall take the debtor, put him into 
chains or into the stocks, the weight of the 
chains not to exceed fifteen pounds, but less 
at the creditor's will." 

IV. " The debtor shall be at Hberty to live as he thinks 

fit, provided it be at his own expense. In the 
event of his being unable to provide his own 
nourishment, the creditor in whose custody he 
is shall supply him with at least one pound of 
bread daily." 
V. Provision relating to — 

1°. The right of compromise. 

2°. The debtor's captivity, in default of com- 
promise within sixty days, and of his pro- 
duction during this interval in the comitium 
on three successive market days, and the 
pubhc declaration of the amount in which he 
was condemned. 
VI. Provision allowing the creditor after the third 
market day, he not being paid, either to put 
his debtor to death or to sell him to any 
stranger resident beyond the Tiber ; and 
which, in the case of there being several 
creditors, enacts as follows : " After the 
third market day, his body may be divided. 
Any one taking more than his just share shall 
be held guiltless." 

* A species of execution of final process. 



Early Roman Education 337 

TABLE IV 

The Rights of the Father. 

I. Provision as to the immediate destruction of 
monstrous or deformed offspring. 
II. Provision relating to the control of the father 
over his children, the right existing during 
their whole life to imprison, scourge, keep to 
rustic labour in chains, to sell or slay, even 
though they may be in the enjoyment of high 
state offices. 

III. " Three consecutive sales of the son by the father 

releases the former from the patria potestas." 

IV. Provision relating to the duration of gestation: 

no child born more than ten months after the 
decease of his reputed father to be held 
legitimate. 



TABLE V 

Inheritance and Tutelage. 

I. Provision relating to the perpetual tutelage of 
women. Vestals are free both from their 
tutelage and from the patria potestas. 
II. Provision prohibiting the usucapion ^ of res man- 
«/z 2 belonging to females under the tutelage ^ 
of their agnates,^ except in the case where 
they have been delivered by the woman her- 
self with the authority of her tutor. 

III. "The testament of the father shall be law as to 

all provisions concerning his property and 
the tutelage thereof." 

IV. " In the event of his death intestate and without 

Sims hceres, the nearest agnate shall succeed." 

* Acquisition by use or by possession for a certain period. 

' Things requiring more than mere delivery to constitute transfer of owner- 
ship. 

' Protection exercised over those who did not have the capacity required 
by civil law for the accomplishment of legal acts. 

* Blood relatives on the father's side. 

z 



^^S Source Book of the History of Education 

V. " In default of agnates, the gentiles ^ shall suc- 
ceed." 

VI. In the event of no tutor being specified in the 
will, the agnates are the legitimate tutors. 
VII. "The custody of an idiot and of his property, in 
case there is no curator (custos), belongs to 
the agnates ; in default of agnates to his 
gentiles." 
VIII. A provision by which the inheritance of an en- 
franchised dying without hceres stms was 
transferred to his patron. 

IX. The inheritance is divided as of right among the 

heirs. 
X. Provision from which is derived the actio famili(Z 
erciscundce, that is, the action which must 
be taken to enforce the division of an inheri- 
tance. 

XI. The slave enfranchised by will, upon condition of 
his giving a certain sum to the heir, can, in 
the event of his being alienated by the heir, 
secure his freedom by the payment of this 
sum to the alienee. 



TABLE VI 

Dominion and Possession. 

I. " The words pronounced in the ceremonies of the 
nexmn'^ and the mancipium shall be law." 
II. Provision enforcing double payment as penalty 
for denying the declaration of the nexnm or 
mancipium. 

III. " Possession for the period of two years in the 

case of land, or of one year in connection 
with other things, vests the property." 

IV. Provision relating to the acquisition of the mari- 

tal power over the woman by the fact of pos- 
session of one year, with the faculty given to 

* Belonging to the same clan or gens. 

^ The general term for alienation or transfer of property, especially /^r<?i ei 
libram — by the bronze piece and the balance. 



Early Roman Education 339 

the woman of preventing this effect of pos- 
session by absenting herself for three nights 
consecutively in each year from the house of 
her husband. 
V. " No possession by an aHen, however long, can 
vest in him the property of a citizen." 

VI. In the case of the maniium consertio} let the 
magistrate give the provisional possession to 
whomsoever he may think fit. In the case, 
however, of a claim to liberty, the magistrate 
shall always give the provisional possession 
in favour of liberty. 
VII. "Timber attached to a building or the support of 
a vine shall not be removed." 
VIII. But an action to recover the double value lies 
against the user of the property of another. 

IX. " If the material becomes detached, and so long 
as it remains so , . . (the owner can recover 
by vifidicatio ^)." 
X. The property in a thing sold and delivered does 
not pass to the purchaser till payment. 

XI. Provision confirming the cessio"^ before the magis- 
trate, as likewise the mancipatio. 



TABLE VII 

The Law Concerning Real Property. 

I. Two feet and a half at least must be left between 
adjoining edifices for the purposes of proper 
ventilation. 
II. Provisions concerning plantations and construc- 
tions or excavations upon adjoining plots of 
ground. 
III. " A garden ... a small inheritance ... a 
barn." * 

* A feigned judicial combat for trying the right to property in a given 
thing. 

^ A legal process of claiming possession. 

* Alienation or surrendering of property. 

* Not restored. 



340 Source Book of the History of Education 

IV. A space of five feet must be left between adjoin- 
ing fields for the purposes of access and the 
turning of the plough. This space cannot be 
acquired by usucapio. 
V. In the event of there being any dispute about 
the boundaries, the magistrate is to give three 
arbiters to the parties, who shall settle the 
matter. 
VI. The breadth of a road is to be eight feet ; at 
the end, where it turns, sixteen feet. If the 
road is impassable, the owner of a right of 
way may cross wherever he pleases. 
VII. The proprietor whose property is threatened with 
damage arising from artificial works for the 
collection of rain-water, or from an aqueduct, 
has a right to demand a guarantee against 
this injury. 
VIII. The branches of a tree overhanging adjoining 
property must be pruned all round up to 
fifteen feet from the ground. 
IX. A proprietor may go on to adjoining land to pick 
up the fruit that has fallen from his tree. 



TABLE VIII 

On Torts. 

I. Capital punishment is decreed against libellers 
and public defamers. 
II. " Retaliation against him who breaks the limb of 
another and does not offer compensation," 

III. For the fracture of the bone (of the tooth) of a 

freeman, the penalty is 300 asses ; ^ in the 
case of a slave, 1 50. 

IV. " For any injury whatsoever committed upon 

another the penalty shall be 25 asses." 
V. "... For damage unjustly caused . . . (but if 
by accident) reparation." 

* A small copper coin, worth in the earlier period about i6| cents; depreci- 
ated until by the time of the Second Punic War it was worth about two-thirds 
of a cent. _ 



Early Roina7i Education 341 

VI. For damage caused by a quadruped, reparation 
or the forfeiture of the animal. 
VII. An action shall lie against him who depastures 
his flock upon a neighbour's land. 
VIII. " He who by enchantment shall blight the crops 
of another, or attract them from one field to 
another ..." 
IX. He who during the night furtively either cuts or 
depastures a neighbour's crops, if of the age 
of puberty, shall be devoted to Ceres and put 
to death; if under that age, he shall be 
scourged at the discretion of the magistrate 
and condemned in the penalty of double the 
damage done. 
X. The incendiary of a house or of a haystack near 
a house, if acting intentionally and of sound 
mind, shall be bound, scourged, and put to 
death by fire. If by negligence, he shall 
repair the damage ; or, if too poor, shall 
be chastised moderately. 
XI. A penalty of 25 asses is to be inflicted upon any 
one who without right has felled the trees of 
another. 
XII. "Any one committing a robbery by night may be 
lawfully killed." 

XIII. A robber surprised during the day must not be 

put to death, unless he attempts to defend 
himself with arms. 

XIV. A thief taken in the act, if a free man, shall be 

scourged and made over by addictio to the 
person robbed ; if a slave, shall be scourged 
and thrown from the Tarpeian rock ; but those 
under the age of puberty shall, at the discre- 
tion of the magistrate, be scourged and con- 
demned to repair the damage. 
XV. . . . 
XVI. . . . 
XVII. Provision prohibiting the acquisition by nsucapio, 
that is to say, by possession of stolen property. 
XVIII. Interest upon money lent must not exceed an 
ounce. That is to say, one twelfth part of 



342 Source Book of the History of Education 

the principal per annum, which is eight and 
a third per cent per annum, calculating 
according to the solar year of twelve months, 
according to the calendar of Numa. The 
penalty for exceeding this interest is the 
quadruple. 

XIX. For fraud in bailment a double penalty. 
XX. Provision giving all citizens the right of action 
to remove suspected tutors, and imposing a 
double penalty for the abstracted property 
of the pupil. 

XXI. " The patron who shall commit a fraud upon 
his client shall be devoted to the gods." 
XXII. " He who has been a witness or acted as scale- 
bearer and refuses to give testimony shall 
be accounted infamous, and incapable of 
giving or receiving testimony." 

XXIII. Provision ordering false witnesses to be thrown 

from the Tarpeian rock. 

XXIV. Capital punishment for homicide. 

XXV. " (Capital punishment decreed against) any one 
who practises enchantments or uses poison- 
ous drugs." 
XXVI. Provision against seditious gatherings by night 
in the city, awarding capital punishment. 
XXVII. Sodales, or members of the same college or 
corporation, are at liberty to make what 
rules binding upon themselves they may 
think fit, provided that they do not contra- 
vene the law. 



TABLE IX 

Public Law. 

I. Provision prohibiting the passing of any law 

concerning a private individual. 
II. The great comitia, that is to say, the comitia by 
centuries, have alone the right to enact laws 
inflicting capital punishment upon a citizen, 
that is to say, which could deprive him of 
life, liberty, or citizenship. 



Early Roman Education 343 

III. The penalty of death is awarded to the judge or 

arbitrator appointed by the magistrate who 
accepts a bribe. 

IV. Provision relating to the question in the case of 

homicide ; and the right of appeal to the peo- 
ple in the case of any penal sentence. 
V. The penalty of death decreed against any one 
who should excite the enemy against the 
Roman people ; or who should deliver a citi- 
zen to the enemy. 



TABLE X 

Sacred Law. 

I. " The dead must not be buried nor burned within 
the city." 
II. "Do no more than this . . . The wood of the 
funeral pile shall not be smoothed." 

III. Restrictions against sumptuous funerals; the 

dead are not to be buried nor burned in 
more than three robes; nor in more than 
three fillets of purple ; nor shall the fu- 
neral be attended by more than ten flute 
players. 

IV. "Women shall not be allowed to tear their hair 

nor make immoderate waiUngs." 
V. "The bones of the deceased shall not be col- 
lected for the purpose of giving him a subse- 
quent funeral (except in the case of death in 
battle, or in a foreign country)." 
VI. Provision prohibiting the embalming the bodies 
of slaves, funeral banquets, expensive liba- 
tions, coronal garlands, and the erection of 
incense altars. 
VII. " But if the deceased has either personally or 
by his slaves or horses obtained any public 
trophy, he shall be entitled to the honour it 
confers." 
VIII. Prohibition against more than one funeral, or 
more than one funeral ceremony, for the 
same deceased. 



344 Source Book of the History of Education 

IX. " Gold must not be buried with the dead ; but if 
the teeth are fastened with gold, this may be 
either buried or burned." 
X. No funeral pile or sepulchre shall be erected 
within sixty feet of another man's house, ex- 
cept with his consent. 

XI. Neither a sepulchre nor its vestibule can be ac- 
quired by usucapio. 



TABLE XI 

Supplement to the First Five Tables. 

I. Prohibiting marriage between patricians and 
plebeians. 

TABLE XII 

Supplement to the Last Five Tables. 

I. Provision establishing the pignoris capio^ against 
the debtor for the payment of the purchase- 
money of a victim, or the hire of a beast of 
burden when the hire has been expressly 
made in order that the sum paid should be 
devoted to purpose of sacrifice. 
II. "If a slave has committed a theft or any other 
injury . . . the direct action does not lie 
against the master, but the actio noxalis^ 
does." 

III. " If any one wrongfully acquires the interim pos- 

session of a thing, the magistrate shall appoint 
three arbitrators to determine the question ; 
and if they decide against him, he shall be 
mulcted in a sum equal to double the profits." 

IV. It is forbidden to consecrate anything which is 

the subject of a suit, and a double penalty is 
inflicted for doing so. 
V. Abrogates all previous and contradictory enact- 
ments. 

* The seizure of the security. ' An action on account of an injury. 



Tables in the 
education of 



Early Roman Education 345 

From the De Oratore of Cicero 

BOOK I., CHAPTER XLIV 

Though all the world exclaim against me, I will say importance 
what I think : that single little book of the Twelve Tables, o'^'^f twelve 
if any one look at the fountains and sources of laws, seems 
to me, assuredly, to surpass the libraries of all the philoso- the"later 
phers, both in weight of authority, and in plenitude of period 
utility. And if our country has our love, as it ought to 
have in the highest degree, — our country, I say, of which 
the force and natural attraction is so strong, that one of 
the wisest of mankind preferred his Ithaca, fixed, like a 
little nest, among the roughest of rocks, to immortality it- 
self, — with what affection ought we to be warmed toward 
such a country as ours, which, preeminently above all other 
countries, is the seat of virtue, empire, and dignity ? Its 
spirit, customs, and discipline ought to be our first objects 
of study, both because our country is the parent of us all, 
and because as much wisdom must be thought to have 
been employed in framing such laws, as in establishing so 
vast and powerful an empire. You will receive also this 
pleasure and delight from the study of the law, that you 
will then most readily comprehend how far our ancestors 
excelled other nations in wisdom, if you compare our laws 
with those of their Lycurgus, Draco, and Solon. It is 
indeed incredible how undigested and almost ridiculous is 
all civil law, except our own ; on which subject I am accus- 
tomed to say much in my daily conversation, when I am 
praising the wisdom of our countrymen above that of all 
other men, and especially of the Greeks. For these rea- 
sons have I declared, Scasvola, that the knowledge of the 
civil law is indispensable to those who would become 
accomplished orators. 



II. THE SECOND PERIOD OF EARLY ROMAN 
EDUCATION 

The Period. — The second period of early Roman educa- 
tion covers the century and a half previous to the conquest 
of Greece (300-146 b.c). This is the period during 
which Rome grew from a small local power into a world 
dominion, including as it does the Italian, Punic, and Mace- 
donian wars. One result of this long warfare was to bring 
Rome into intimate contact with the Greeks in Italy, Sicily, 
and Greece. The educational characteristic of the period 
is the institutionalizing of education and the gradual growth 
of the Greek influence. At the opening of the period Rome 
could not be said to have schools at all. Education was 
centred in the family, and was largely moral, social, and 
military in character. It was distinctly a training process, 
for no instruction save that connected with the Laws of the 
Twelve Tables was considered necessary. At the close of 
the period schools were well established ; they presented 
the appearance of a system corresponding to our elemen- 
tary, secondary, and higher education ; and it had become 
the approved thing for the Roman boy to receive his edu- 
cation from them, though there were many who yet clung 
to the old education, and though even after this time 
there were governmental efforts to check the growth of 
Greek ideas and customs in education. 

The Sources. — The two selections given narrate the 
introduction and growth of these secondary and higher 
educational institutions. They are the introductory por- 

346 



Second Period of Early Roman Education 347 

tions of the two remaining fragments of the works of Sue- 
tonius on the Lives of Eminent Grammarians and on the 
Lives of Eminent Rhetoricians. Gaius Suetonius Tran- 
quillus was an historian, born about 79 a.d., and there- 
fore a contemporary of the younger PHny and Tacitus. 
He was in high favor with the emperors of that, period, 
until deprived of his office by Hadrian in 121 a.d. In 
this time of disfavor he wrote his historical works, which 
are chiefly of a biographical character. The two selec- 
tions, introductory to numerous biographical accounts of 
distinguished teachers of the period of the Hellenized 
Roman education, form a brief sketch of this earlier period. 

The Introduction of Schools and the Process of Helleniza- 
tion. — At the beginning of this period there are evidences 
of the existence of elementary schools. Such a school, 
the Indus, afforded instruction in reading and writing, per- 
haps also in calculation. Instead of such instruction being 
imparted in each home by the parent or family slave, it was 
now given for several families by a slave or, perhaps, by 
a freeman. Our detailed knowledge of these schools is 
drawn from the succeeding period. These schools are 
referred to by Suetonius as the schools of the literators or 
grammatists {On Grammarians, Ch. IV.). 

Early in this period a higher type, the school of the 
grammaticus, was introduced by the Greeks. The earliest 
of these grammar schools was that established by Livius 
Andronicus some time about the middle of that century. 
At the same time he translated the Odyssey into Latin, 
which thereafter became the basis of grammar school 
work. Ennius was brought to Rome 204 B.C., and after- 
ward gave instruction in Greek and Latin grammar. Plu- 
tarch refers to Spurius Carvilius, who estabhshed a school 



34^ Source Book of the History of Education 

240 B.C. as the first to take fixed fees. Carvilius was twice 
consul, first in 234, — a notable rise for a schoolmaster. 
By the middle of the second century B.C. there was quite 
a body of this early Latin literature, either translated from, 
or written in imitation of, Grecian works, much of which 
became the basis of grammar school work. It is about 
this time (157 b.c.) that Crates established his school, which 
is referred to by Suetonius as affording the first definite 
study of grammar. In the same chapter Suetonius refers 
to nine other grammarians that taught at about this time or 
a little later. It is evident, therefore, that literary instruc- 
tion after the Grecian fashion was well established at Rome 
in grammar schools by the close of the old Roman period. 
By this time a third type of school had appeared, — the 
school of the rhetor or rhetorician. As Suetonius suggests 
in his Lives of Grammarians (Ch. IV.), the ofifices of the 
grammaticus and of the rhetor were not at first distinct. 
The grammarians taught rhetoric as well : secondary edu- 
cation and higher education were not differentiated. Both 
were of a literary character, both were Grecian imitations. 
They furnished the instruction and training in declamation 
and debate. Suetonius states that the early rhetors alter- 
nated their work in rhetoric, either on successive days or on 
mornings and afternoons, with that in grammar. Certain 
it is that by 161 b.c. such schools have become numerous 
enough to be considered a menace to Roman institutions 
and the preservation of the old Roman character, for in 
that year the Senate approved the proposition of the praetor 
that the rhetoricians along with the philosophers be ex- 
pelled from Rome. Of course such methods were ineffec- 
tive against tendencies so manifestly in accord with the 
whole movement of the times. Later developments along 



Second Period of Early Roman Education 349 

this line fall into the third special period ; but it seems 
that by seventy years later the Greek rhetoricians had 
been supplemented by a new type, the Latin rhetoricians, 
who were considered to be still more pernicious. The 
charges against these schools sound very much like the 
charges entered against the schools of the Sophists when 
they were first introduced at Athens ; and, in fact, they 
indicate a change very similar in character to that indi- 
cated in the Clouds. The close of the first general period 
leaves Roman society fully equipped with a frame-work 
of educational institutions, to be extended and amplified in 
the succeeding period. The method and content of their 
work can be best understood when that more detailed evi- 
dence is presented. 

Selections from the Lives of Eminent Grammarians, by 

Suetonius 

I. The science of grammar was in ancient times far 
from being in vogue at Rome ; indeed, it was of little use 
in a rude state of society, when the people were engaged 
in constant wars, and had not much time to bestow on the 
cultivation of the liberal arts. At the outset, its preten- 
sions were very slender, for the earhest men of learning, 
who were both poets and orators, may be considered as 
half-Greek : I speak of Livius ^ and Ennius,^ who are 

^ Livius Andronicus is regarded as the founder of Roman epic and 
dramatic poetry. He was by hirth a Greek of southern Italy. Upon the 
conquest of that region by the Romans, he was brought as a slave to Rome in 
272 B.C. He was given his liberty and became a teacher in the Greek and 
Latin languages. During this time he translated the Odyssey into Latin. 
This became the chief text-book of the Roman schools for centuries, in time 
supplanting the Twelve Tables. In 240 B.C. he produced the first Roman 
drama, modelled after the Grecian dramas. 

2 Ennius was born in Calabria in 239 B.C. He was brought from Sardinia 
to Rome by Porcius Cato in 204 B.C. Here he became a teacher of the Greek 
language, also translating Greek plays for the Roman stage. 



350 Source Book of the History of Education 

acknowledged to have taught both languages as well at 
Rome as in foreign parts. But they only translated from 
the Greek, and if they composed anything of their own 
in Latin, it was only from what they had before read. 
For although there are those who say that this Ennius 
published two books, one on " Letters and Syllables," and 
the other on " Metres," Lucius Cotta has satisfactorily 
proved that they are not the works of the poet Ennius, 
but of another writer of the same name,^ to whom also the 
treatise on the " Rules of Augury " is attributed. 

n. Crates 2 of Mallos,'^ then, was, in our opinion, the 
first who introduced the study of grammar at Rome. He 
was cotemporary with Aristarchus,* and having been sent 
by king Attalus^ as envoy to the senate in the interval 
between the second and third Punic wars,^ soon after the 
death of Ennius, he had the misfortune to fall into an open 
sewer in the Palatine quarter of the city, and broke his 
leg. After which, during the whole period of his embassy 
and convalescence, he gave frequent lectures, taking much 
pains to instruct his hearers, and he has left us an example 
well worthy of imitation. It was so far followed, that 
poems hitherto little known, the works either of deceased 
friends or other approved writers, were brought to light, 
and being read and commented on, were explained to 
others. Thus, Caius Octavius Lampadio edited the Punic 
War of Naevius," which having been written in one volume 
without any break in the manuscript, he divided into seven 
books. After that, Quintus Vargonteius undertook the 
Annals of Ennius, which he read on certain fixed days 
to crowded audiences. So Laelius Archelaus, and Vectius 
Philocomus, read and commented on the Satires of their 
friend Lucilius,^ which Lenaeus Pompeius, a freedman, 

^ This is all that is known of this writer. 

'^ Founded a grammar school in Pergamus, came to Rome as above narrated 
in 157 B.C. 

8 In Cilicia in Asia Minor. 

* A celebrated Grecian grammarian, one of the greatest critics of antiquity, 
especially of the Homeric poems. 

' Of Pergamus. An ally of the Romans. • 149-146 B.C. 

' A Roman epic and dramatic poet, born about 270 B.C. 

' The creator of Roman satire, born 148 B.C., died 109. 



Second Period of Early Rotna^i Education 351 

tells us he studied under Archelaus ; and Valerius Cato, 
under Philocomus. Two others also taught and promoted 
grammar in various branches, namely, Lucius ^^lius Lanu- 
vinus, the son-in-law of Quintus ^lius, and Servius Clau- 
dius, both of whom were Roman knights, and men who 
rendered great services both to learning and the republic. 
**«♦*** 

IV. The appellation of grammarian was borrowed from 
the Greeks ; but at first, the Latins called such persons 
literati. Cornelius Nepos,^ also, in his book, where he 
draws a distinction between a literate and a philologist, 
says that in common phrase, those are properly called 
literati who are skilled in speaking or writing with care 
or accuracy, and those more especially deserve the name 
who translated the poets, and were called grammarians by 
the Greeks. It appears that they were named [iterators 
by Messala Corvinus, in one of his letters, when he says, 
"that it does not refer to Furius Bibaculus, nor even to 
Sigida, nor to Cato, the literator," meaning, doubtless, that 
Valerius Cato^ was both a poet and an eminent gram- 
marian. Some there are who draw a distinction between 
a literati and a literator, as the Greeks do between a gram- 
marian and a grammatist, applying the former term to men 
of real erudition, the latter to those whose pretensions to 
learning are moderate ; and this opinion Orbilius supports 
by examples. For he says that in old times, when a 
company of slaves was offered for sale by any person, it 
was not customary, without good reason, to describe either 
of them in the catalogue as a literate, but only as a literator, 
meaning that he was not a proficient in letters, but had 
a smattering of knowledge. 

The early grammarians taught rhetoric also, and we have 
many of their treatises which include both sciences; whence 
it arose, I think, that in later times, although the two pro- 
fessions had then become distinct, the old custom was re- 
tained, or the grammarians introduced into their teaching 
some of the elements required for public speaking, such as 
the problem, the periphrasis, the choice of words, descrip- 

^ A Roman historian, born lOO B.C. 

' A celebrated grammarian, of the time of the Civil Wars. 



352 Source Book of the History of Education 

tion of character, and the like ; in order that they might 
not transfer their pupils to the rhetoricians no better than 
ill-taught boys. But I perceive that these lessons are now 
given up in some cases, on account of the want of applica- 
tion, or the tender years, of the scholar, for I do not believe 
that it arises from any dislike in the master. I recollect 
that when I was a boy it was the custom of one of these, 
whose name was Princeps, to take alternate days for de- 
claiming and disputing ; and sometimes he would lecture 
in the morning, and declaim in the afternoon, when he had 
his pulpit removed. I heard, also, that even within the 
memories of our own fathers, some of the pupils of the 
grammarians passed directly from the schools to the courts, 
and at once took a high place in the ranks of the most dis- 
tinguished advocates. The professors at that time were, 
indeed, men of great eminence, of some of whom I may 
be able to give an account in the following chapters. 



Selections from the Lives of Eminent Rhetoricians y by 
Suetonius 

I. Rhetoric, also, as well as Grammar, was not intro- 
duced amongst us till a late period, and with still more dif- 
ficulty, inasmuch as we find that, at times, the practice of 
it was even prohibited. In order to leave no doubt of this, 
I will subjoin an ancient decree of the senate, as well as 
an edict of the censors : — " In the cottsulship ^ of Caiiis 
Fanniiis Strabo, and Marcus Valerius Messala : the praetor 
Marcus Pomponius moved the senate, that an act be passed 
respecting Philosophers and Rhetoricians. In this matter, 
they have decreed as follows : ' It shall be lawful for 
M. Pomponius, the praetor, to take such measures, and 
make such provisions, as the good of the Republic, and 
the duty of his office, require, that no Philosophers or 
Rhetoricians be suffered at Rome.' 

"After some interval, the censor ^ Cnaeus Domitius MxiO- 
barbus and Lucius Lucinius Crassus issued the following 
edict upon the same subject : ' It is reported to us that 

1 592 A.U.C.; 161 B.C. ^ 92 B.C. 



Second Period of Early Roman Education 353 

certain persons have instituted a new kind of discipline; 
that our youth resort to their schools ; that they have 
assumed the title of Latin Rhetoricians ; and that young 
men waste their time there for whole days together. Our 
ancestors have ordained what instruction it is fitting their 
children should receive, and what schools they should 
attend. These novelties, contrary to the customs and 
instructions of our ancestors, we neither approve, nor do 
they appear to us good. Wherefore it appears to be our 
duty that we should notify our judgment both to those who 
keep such schools, and those who are in the practice of 
frequenting them, that they meet our disapprobation.' " 

However, by slow degrees, rhetoric manifested itself to be 
a useful and honourable study, and many persons devoted 
themselves to it both, as a means of defence and of acquir- 
ing reputation. Cicero declaimed in Greek until his prae- 
torship, but afterwards, as he grew older, in Latin also; 
and even in the consulship ^ of Hirtius and Pansa, whom 
he calls "his great and noble disciples." Some historians 
state that Cneius Pompey ^ resumed the practice of declaim- 
ing even during the civil war, in order to be better pre- 
pared to argue against Caius Curio, a young man of great 
talents, to whom the defence of Caesar was entrusted. 
They say, likewise, that it was not forgotten by Mark 
Antony, nor by Augustus, even during the war of Modena. 
Nero also declaimed even after he became emperor, in the 
first year of his reign, which he had done before in public 
but twice. Many speeches of orators were also published. 
In consequence, public favour was so much attracted to the 
study of rhetoric, that a vast number of professors and 
learned men devoted themselves to it ; and it flourished to 
such a degree, that some of them raised themselves by it 
to the rank of senators and the highest offices. 

But the same mode of teaching was not adopted by all, 
nor, indeed, did individuals always confine themselves to 
the same system, but each varied his plan of teaching ac- 
cording to circumstances. For they were accustomed, in 
stating their argument with the utmost clearness, to use 
figures and apologies, to put cases, as circumstances re- 
quired, and to relate facts, sometimes briefly and succinctly, 

^ 43 B.C. ^ With Caesar and Crassus formed the first triumvirate. 

2A 



354 Source Book of the History of Education 

and, at other times, more at large and with greater feeling. 
Nor did they omit, on occasion, to resort to translations from 
the Greek, and to expatiate in the praise, or to launch their 
censures on the faults, of illustrious men. They also dealt 
with matters connected with every-day life, pointing out 
such as are useful and necessary, and such as are hurtful 
and needless. They had occasion often to support the 
authority of fabulous accounts, and to detract from that of 
historical narratives, which sort the Greeks call " Proposi- 
tions," " Refutations " and " Corroborations," until by a 
gradual process they have exhausted these topics, and 
arrive at the gist of the argument. 

Among the ancients, subjects of controversy were drawn 
either from history, as indeed some are even now, or from 
actual facts, of recent occurrence. It was, therefore, the 
custom to state them precisely, with details of the names 
of places. We certainly so find them collected and pub- 
lished, and it may be well to give one or two of them Hter- 
ally, by way of example : 

*' A company of young men from the city, having made 
an excursion to Ostia in the summer season, and going 
down to the beach, fell in with some fishermen who were 
casting their nets in the sea. Having bargained with them 
for the haul, whatever it might turn out to be, for a certain 
sum, they paid down the money. They waited a long time 
while the nets were being drawn, and when at last they 
were dragged on shore, there was no fish in them, but some 
gold sewn up in a basket. The buyers claim the haul as 
theirs, the fishermen assert that it belongs to them." 

Again : " Some dealers having to land from a ship at 
Brundusium a cargo of slaves, among which there was a 
handsome boy of great value, they, in order to deceive the 
collectors of the customs, smuggled him ashore in the dress 
of a freeborn youth, with the bnlluin ^ hung about his neck. 
The fraud easily escaped detection. They proceed to Rome; 
the affair becomes the subject of judicial inquiry; it is al- 
leged that the boy was entitled to his freedom, because his 
master had voluntarily treated him as free." 

^ A circular piece of metal, or leather, worn by Roman children, suspended 
from the neck. It was laid aside at adolescence as a sign of manhood. 



III. CONTRAST BETWEEN EARLIER AND 
LATER PERIODS OF ROMAN EDUCATION 

The Periods. — As became a practical, sturdy, severe, 
and reverential people, with respect for tradition and a 
genius for originating and preserving institutions, the 
change in educational ideas and practices came very 
much more gradually with the Romans than with the 
Greeks. The contrast here offered is essentially that 
between the third period (the last century of the Republic 
and the first two centuries of the Empire) and the first 
and second periods. While in the second period schools 
had become common and Grecian educational ideas and 
practices were being steadily introduced, education for 
the typical Roman was still essentially a home process, 
and even so far as it had become institutionalized was not 
yet literary. The first essentially literary school was that 
of Spurius Carvihus, opened in 260 B.C. Accordingly 
to Plutarch, he was the first to take fixed fees for his 
instruction. Elementary schools, however, undoubtedly 
existed before this time. Less than a generation later, 
Livius Andronicus, the founder of Roman epic and dra- 
matic poetry, latinized the Odyssey, which soon shared 
with the Laws of the Twelve Tables the first place in 
Roman schools. Not until the middle of the second cen- 
tury B.C. does education cease to be essentially Roman. 
The conquest of Greece led to the free introduction and 
imitation of Grecian ideas, and soon thereafter Rome 

355 



356 Source Book of the History of Education 

becomes, on the intellectual side, thoroughly Hellenized. 
In this latter connection, a decree of the Senate passed in 
i6i B.C. may be taken as the epochal mark. This decree 
called for the expulsion of the philosophers and rhetori- 
cians from Rome. The account of the decree as given 
by Suetonius has already been presented. Its provisions 
were non-effective ; its significance is rather as an indica- 
tion of a fact accomplished than of a reform instituted. 
The contrast presented in this section is not, then, between 
the decadent education of the late imperial times and the 
early Roman, but rather that between the Graeco-Roman 
education at its best (the third period of Roman educa- 
tion) and the old Roman education at its best. 

The Sources. Their Interpretation. — The evidences of 
this transition, be it development or decline, are abundant, 
as are also literary references to the change. Yet con- 
scious comparisons with direct reference to the educa- 
tional changes are rarer than those concerning the similar 
transition with the Greeks. This is due partly to the fact 
that the change was less sharp than with the Greeks; 
partly, to the fact that the Latins did not give full expres- 
sion to all their J^fe in permanent literary form. As 
sources, two direct comparisons, of widely different char- 
acter, are here given. One of these dates from almost 
two centuries before the Christian era, the other from 
three-quarters of a century after its beginning. Evidently 
the same conditions cannot enter into the comparison, 
though the general characteristics of the old education are 
substantially the same in each selection. The first is a very 
brief comparison found in the Bacchides of Plautus (Act 
III., Scene 3), first presented in 189 B.C. The poet begins 
by presenting the main features of the old Roman educa- 



Co7itrast between Earlier and Later Periods 357 

tion, and then by way of contrast, the changes occurring 
under the influence of the new ideas and tendencies. This 
play is written, however, in the latter part of the old period, 
and indicates that these changes have already begun, 
though the extreme characterization of existing conditions 
cannot be accepted without qualification. Plautus (254- 
189 B.C.) was one of the earliest and one of the most free- 
spoken Roman comic poets, and so the delineations of his 
times must be interpreted from the point of view of the 
comic stage. The scene of the Bacchides is laid in Greece, 
and in the play itself Plautus, as was his custom, drew 
very largely from Grecian sources. Hence the extreme 
view of the poet may be partially due to the fact that he 
has Grecian as well as Roman conditions in mind. His 
characterization of the new education relates to one point 
only, the relations of the parent, pupil, and tutor. Whatever 
reservations need be made, we can accept as true the state- 
ment of Plautus that much of the old Roman reverence 
and modesty of action in youth has departed. The selec- 
tion is given, then, more for its succinct presentations 
of the characteristics of the early education than for its 
evidence as to the time of transition to new conditions. 

The second selection, taken from the Dialogns de Ora- 
toribics of Tacitus, is of very different character, and is 
accurate evidence from one of the most judicious and 
observing of Roman historians. This is probably the 
earliest work of Tacitus (b. about 50 a.d., d. about 117), 
as it was written about 79 a.d. The entire work is an 
educational treatise of the same general character as the 
De Oratore of Cicero. It is an essay in the form of a 
dialogue, giving an account of the decay of oratory under 
the Empire. As this was the period when oratory ex- 



358 Source Book of the History of Education 

pressed the whole aim of education so far as it was repre- 
sented by schools, the essay presents clearly the condition 
of education at that time. The passage selected (Chs. 
XXVIII.-XXXV. inclusive) bears directly upon education 
in the broader sense of the terms and contains the direct 
comparison in Chs. XXVIII. and XXXIV., between the 
old education and the new. In the interpretation of the 
passage it is well to bear in mind that Tacitus, while a 
close observer, was quite pessimistic concerning condi- 
tions of Roman society. This is shown in his other writ- 
ings, especially the Germania. His contemporary, Pliny 
the Younger, gives a brighter view of Roman education 
at that period as he does of Roman society in general 
(see Ch. V.). 

The Contrast as to Aim, Subject-matter, Method, Organi- 
zation. — In the earlier periods education had the general 
aim of preparation for full Roman citizenship, military, 
civic, economic, and oratorical. This was no narrow ideal, 
though toward the latter part of this first general period, 
upon the basis of the economic and civic training, the 
Roman youth might specialize on mihtary or legal, that is, 
oratorical, lines. Oratory as a single aim did not yet exist. 
Husbandry, the army, public meetings and courts, each 
demanded of every Roman citizen the performance of 
certain civic duties. The aim was general ; the education, 
broad. Into it entered Httle of the literary element, and 
the little demanded scarcely called for formal training. 
In the latter period the whole aim of higher education is 
expressed in the one word, oratory. A full exposition of 
this conception of education, at its best, is given later in 
the selections from Cicero's De Oratore. The account 
given by Tacitus is drawn from the same period, but a 



Contrast betwee^i Earlier and Later Periods 359 

century later, when oratorical education had become much 
more formal and artificial. The content of education in 
the respective periods follows the aim very closely. In 
the early periods, its essential part was a training in the 
duties of the householder, the soldier, the member of cer- 
tain civic assemblies, the defender of one's own rights and 
ideas before courts of laws. This general training de- 
manded a certain amount of literary instruction, small at 
first, but of constantly increasing volume. It included 
reading, writing, calculation, mastering of the Twelve 
Tables, and the acquisition of national hymns and legends. 
In the second part of the old Roman period there was 
added a small amount of literary study centring around 
the Latinized Odyssey and early Latin literature. On this 
point, however, there is little direct evidence. In the con- 
trast presented by Tacitus, the content of education — at 
least of higher education — has become wholly literary, 
and in the hands of the rhetoricians is made extremely 
artificial. This training in the " rhetorical circus " sup- 
plants the earlier training in all-round citizenship. The 
contrast in methods and institutional organization is even 
greater. The method of old Roman education is essen- 
tially that of the apprentice system; the youth learns by 
observation and direct imitation of the master, in the 
army, at the farm, in the courts and the forum. To this 
training is added a small amount of instruction by the 
parent or by the master. In the latter period, the school 
supplants the home and the camp and forum, and this early 
training gives place to the formal instruction of the rhe- 
torical school. Here the instruction is largely philological 
instead of literary in the broader sense ; and dialectical 
discussion of fictitious cases replaces the observation of, 



360 Source Book of the History of Education 

and practice in, the rendering of justice and the shaping 
of men's motives and actions. 

Such a change could not but be related, both as cause 
and effect, to a change in spirit — a change in regard 
to the attitude of parents toward the education of their 
children ; a change in the attitude of pupils toward their 
teachers, their school work, and their life obligations ; and 
a change in the attitude of teachers toward their pro- 
fession and their pupils. This change in spirit is indi- 
cated in both selections. 



old and the 
new Roman 
education; 



Selections from the Bacchides^ of Plautus 

Act III., Sc. III. 

Contrast 27. Lydus. I declare that for your first twenty years 

between the you had not even this much liberty, to move your foot 
out of the house even a finger's length away from your 
tutor. When it 4id happen so, this evil, too, was added 
to the evil ; both pupil and preceptor were esteemed dis- 
graced. Before the rising of the sun had you not come 
to the school for exercise,^ no slight punishment would 
you have had at the hands of the master of the school. 
There did they exercise themselves rather with running, 
wrestling, the quoit, the javelin, boxing, the ball, and leap- 
ing, rather than with harlots or with kissing ; there did 
they prolong their lives, and not in secret-lurking holes. 
Then, when from the hippodrome^ and school of exercise 
you had returned home, clad in your belted frock, upon 
a stool by your master * would you sit ; and there, when 
you were reading your book, if you made a mistake in 
a single syllable, your skin would be made as spotted 
as your nurse's gown. 

^ The scene is laid in Greece. This passage, however, indicates the change 
that has come over old Roman education with the introduction of Grecian 
ideas and the degeneracy of old Roman morals. 

2 The palaestra, the school for athletic exercise. 

• The riding schooL * The music or literary school. 



Contrast between Earlier ajid Later Periods 361 



pupil and 
teacher. 



Mnes. {aside\. I'm sorely vexed, to my sorrow, that on 
my account these things should be said about my friend. 
In his innocence he incurs this suspicion for my sake. 

Philo. The manners, Lydus, now are altered. 

Lyd. That, for my part, I know full well. For formerly, as to the 
a man used to receive public honors by the votes of the relation 
people, before he ceased to be obedient to one appointed ^f/„^7f" 
his tutor. But now-a-days, before he is seven years old, 
if you touch a boy with your hand, at once the child breaks 
his tutor's head with his tablet. When you go to com- 
plain to the father, thus says the father to the child : " Be 
you my own dear boy, since you can defend yourself from 
an injury." The tutor the7i is called for; "Hallo! you 
old good-for-nothing,i don't you be touching the child for 
this reason, that he has behaved so boldly ; " and thus the 
despised tutor becomes just like a lantern with his oiled 
linen rags.^ Judgment pronounced, they go away thence. 
Can this preceptor then, on these terms, keep up his 
authority, if he himself is to be beaten the first } 



Tacitus : Dialogue concerning Oratory ^ 

28. Messala resumed his discourse. The causes of the 
decay of eloquence are by no means difficult to be traced. 
They are, I believe, well known to you, Maternus, to Secun- 
dus, and even to Aper,* though I am now, at your request 
to expound what we all feel. For is it not obvious that 
eloquence, with the rest of the poHte arts, has lost its former 
lustre, not for want of men, but through the dissipation of 
our young men, the inattention of parents, the ignorance 
of those who pretend to give instruction, and the total neg- 
lect of ancient discipline } The mischief began at Rome, 
it has overrun all Italy, and is now spreading through the 
provinces. You, however, know more than I of the state 

^ Ordinarily they were slaves. 

' Commentators suppose this to mean that he is comparing his head, when 
it has been broken by the tablets and plastered over with oiled linen, to the 
ordinary Roman lantern made of oiled linen cloth. 

^ The scene of the dialogue is laid in the sixth year of Vespasian, 75 A.D. 

* Personages of the dialogue. 



Decline of 
education in 
the early 
imperial 
period. 



362 Source Book of the History of Education 



Training of 
the child 
according to 
old Roman 
i<leas. 



Compared 
with the 
training 
given them 
in imperial 
times. 



of your provinces in this respect, and therefore I shall con- 
fine myself to those peculiar and indigenous vices of the 
capital which beset our youth from their birth, and gather 
more and more upon them through every season of life. 
But before I enter on the subject, let me premise a few 
words on the strict discipHne of our ancestors, in educating 
and training up their children. In the first place the son 
of every family was the legitimate offspring of a virtuous 
mother. The infant, as soon as born, was not consigned 
to the mean dwelling of a hireling nurse, but was reared 
and cherished in the bosom of its mother, whose highest 
praise it was to take care of her household affairs, and 
attend to her children. It was customary likewise for 
each family to choose some elderly female relation of 
approved conduct, to whose charge the children were 
committed. In her presence not one indecent word was 
uttered ; nothing was done against propriety and good 
manners. The hours of study and serious employment 
were settled by her direction ; and not only so, but even 
the diversions of the children were conducted with mod- 
est reserve and sanctity of manners. Thus it was that 
Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, superintended the 
education of her illustrious issue. It was thus that 
Aurelia trained up Julius Caesar ; and thus Atia formed 
the mind of Augustus. The consequence of this regular 
discipline was, that the young mind, whole and sound, and 
unwarped by irregular passions, received the elements of 
the liberal arts with hearty avidity. Whatever was the 
peculiar bias, whether to the military art, the study of 
the laws, or the profession of eloquence, that engrossed the 
whole attention, that was imbibed thoroughly and totally. 

29. In the present age what is our practice .'' The infant 
is committed to a Greek chambermaid, and a slave or two, 
chosen for the purpose, generally the worst of the whole 
household train, and unfit for any office of trust. From 
the idle tales and gross absurdities of these people, the 
tender and uninstructed mind is suffered to receive its 
earliest impressions. Throughout the house not one ser- 
vant cares what he says or does in the presence of his 
young master ; and indeed, how should it be otherwise .'' 
since the parents themselves are so far from training their 



Contrast between Earlier and Later Periods 363 

young families to virtue and modesty, that they set them 
the first examples of luxury and licentiousness. Thus our 
youth gradually acquire a confirmed habit of impudence, 
and a total disregard of that reverence they owe both to 
themselves and to others. To say truth, it seems as if a 
fondness for horses, actors, and gladiators, the peculiar and 
distinguishing folly of this our city, was impressed upon 
them even in the womb : and when once a passion of this 
contemptible sort has seized and engaged the mind, what 
opening is there left for the noble arts } Who talks of 
anything else in our houses .-' If we enter the schools, Character of 
what other subjects of conversation do we hear among school life 
the boys .-' The preceptors themselves choose no other "° ^""' 
topic more frequently to entertain their hearers ; for it is 
not by establishing a strict discipline, or by giving proofs 
of their genius, that this order of men gain pupils, but by 
fawning and flattery. Not to mention how ill instructed 
our youth are in the very elements of literature, sufficient 
pains are by no means taken in bringing them acquainted 
with the best authors, or in giving them a proper notion of 
history, together with a knowledge of men and things. 
The whole that seems to be considered in their education 
is, to find out a person for them called a rhetorician. I 
will presently give you some account of the introduction 
of this profession at Rome, and show you with what con- 
tempt it was received by our ancestors. 

30. At present, I must advert to that scheme of discipline Education of 
which the ancient orators practised. Their unwearied dili- the orator, 
gence, their habits of meditation, and their constant exer- oj^d^jeas^ '° 
cises in every branch of study, are amply displayed in their 
own writings. The treatise of Cicero, called " Brutus," is 
in all our hands. In the latter part of that work (the 
former part is employed in commemorating the ancient 
orators), he gives a sketch of the several progressive steps 
by which he formed his eloquence. He there acquaints 
us, that he studied the civil law under Q. Mucins ; ^ that 
he was instructed in the several branches of philosophy by 
Philo the Academic,^ and Diodorus the Stoic ; that, not 



1 Quintus Mucius Scsevola, the leading jurist of his time. 
* A leading philosopher of the Platonic school. 



364 Source Book of the History of Educatioih 



Scope of his 
e lucation. 



Skill gained 
nijt ffj.-n 
school, but 
from contact 
with actual 
life. 



His training 
must be 
broad, both 
in practical 
life 



satisfied with attending the lectures of those eminent 
masters, of whom there were at that time great numbers in 
Rome, he made a voyage into Greece and Asia, in order to 
enlarge his knowledge, and embrace the whole circle of the 
sciences. Accordingly he appears by his writings to have 
been familiar with geometry, music, grammar, and every 
liberal art. He was versed in the subtleties of ethics, and 
the practical lore of moral philosophy. He had studied 
the operations of nature, and explored the causes of her 
phenomena. And thus it was, my worthy friends, that 
from deep learning and the confluence of many arts and 
universal science, that overflowing and exuberant eloquence 
derived its strength and fulness. For it is not with the 
oratorical power and faculty as with others, which are 
exercised within certain precise and determinate limits : on 
the contrary, he alone can justly be deemed an orator, who 
can speak on every subject gracefully, ornately, and per- 
suasively, in a manner suitable to the dignity of his sub- 
ject, and with pleasure to his hearers. 

31. So thought those renowned orators of old. In order, 
however, to attain these eminent qualifications, they did 
not think it necessary to declaim in the schools, and to 
exercise their tongues and their voices alone upon fictitious 
controversies, remote from all reality ; but rather to fill 
their minds with such studies as concern life and manners, 
as treat of moral good and evil, of justice and injustice, of 
the decent and the unbecoming in actions, because these 
constitute the subject matter of the orator ; for in the 
courts of law we generally descant on equity ; in delibera- 
tions, on moral rectitude ; whilst yet these two branches 
are not so absolutely distinct, but that they are frequently 
blended with each other. Now it is impossible to speak 
on such topics with fulness, variety, and elegance, unless 
the orator is perfectly well acquainted with human nature ; 
unless he understands the power and extent of moral 
duties, the perversity of vice, and other things besides, 
which do not partake either of vice or virtue. 

From the same source, likewise, he must derive his influ- 
ence over the passions. He who knows the nature of 
indignation, will be able to kindle or allay that passion in 
the breast of the judge; and the advocate who has con- 



Contrast between Earlier and Later Periods 365 

sidered the effect of compassion, and from what secret 
springs it flows, will best know how to soften the mind, 
and melt it into tenderness. It is by these secrets of his 
art that the orator gains his influence. Whether he has to 
do with the prejudiced, the angry, the envious, the melan- 
choly, or the timid, he can bridle their various passions, 
and hold the reins in his own hand. According to the dis- 
position of each, he will apply his skill, and modify his 
speech, having the needful apphances in readiness for 
every occasion. Some there are who like best that close 
mode of oratory, which in a laconic manner states the 
facts, and forms an immediate conclusion : in that case, it 
is obvious how necessary it is to be a complete master of 
the rules of logic. Others admire a more diffuse and level 
style, illustrated by images drawn from common observa- 
tion : towards moving such hearers the Peripatetic writers 
will give him some assistance ; and indeed they will, in 
general, supply him with many useful hints in all the dif- 
ferent methods of popular address. The Academics will 
inspire him with a becoming warmth : Plato will give him 
loftiness, Xenophon suavity. Even the exclamatory man- 
ner of Epicurus, or Metrodorus,^ may be found, in some 
circumstances, not altogether unserviceable. For take 
note that I am not laying down rules for building up an 
imaginary wise man, or a city of the Stoics, but for ac- 
complishing one who ought not to confine his attention to 
any one sect, but gather freely from all. Accordingly, the and in 
ancient orators not only studied the civil laws, but also literary 
grammar, poetry, music, and geometry. Indeed, there are 
few causes (perhaps I might justly say there are none) 
wherein a skill in the first is not absolutely necessary ; and 
there are many in which an acquaintance with the last- 
mentioned sciences is highly requisite. 

32. Let no one object to me that " eloquence is the single Eloquence 
science requisite for the orator ; an occasional recourse to not the 
the others will be sufficient for all his purposes ; " I an- rhetorical 
swer, in the first place, there will always be a remarkable study only, 
difference in the manner of applying what we take up, as 
it were, upon loan, and what we properly possess ; so that 
it will ever be manifest, whether the orator is indebted to 

* The favorite disciple of Epicurus. 



366 Source Book of the History of Education 



others for what he produces, or derives it from his own 
unborrowed fund. And, in the next, the sciences throw 
an inexpressible grace over our compositions, even where 
they are not immediately concerned ; as their effects are 
discernible where we least expect to find them. This 
powerful charm is not only distinguished by the learned 
and the judicious, but strikes even the most common and 
popular class of auditors ; insomuch that one may fre- 
quently hear them applauding a speaker of this approved 
kind, as a man of genuine erudition ; as enriched with the 
whole treasures of eloquence ; and, in one word, a com- 
plete orator. But no man, I affirm, ever did, or ever can, 
maintain that exalted character, unless, like the soldier 
marching to battle, armed at all points, he enters the forum 
equipped with the whole panoply of knowledge. So much, 
however, is this principle neglected by our modern pro- 
fessors of oratory, that their pleadings are debased by the 
vilest colloquial barbarisms ; they are ignorant of the laws, 
unacquainted with the acts of the senate ; the common law 
of Rome they professedly ridicule, and philosophy they 
seem to regard as something that ought to be shunned and 
dreaded. Thus eloquence, like a dethroned potentate, is 
banished her rightful dominions, and confined to barren 
points and low conceits : and she who was once mistress 
of the whole circle of sciences, and charmed every be- 
holder with the goodly appearance of her glorious train, is 
now shorn and curtailed, stripped of all her honours, all 
row view of ^^'" attendants, (I had almost said of all her genius,) and 
education, is taken up as one of the meanest of the mechanic arts. 
This, therefore, I consider as the first, and the principal 
reason of our having so greatly declined from the spirit of 
the ancients. 

If I were called upon to support my opinion by author- 
ities, might I not justly name, among the Grecians, Demos- 
thenes .-• who, we are informed, constantly attended the 
lectures of Plato : so also, among our own countrymen, 
Cicero himself assures us, (and in these very words, if I 
rightly remember,) that he owed whatever advances he 
had made in eloquence, not to the rhetoricians, but to the 
Academic philosophers. 

Other and very considerable reasons might be produced 



1 



Decline of 
oratory due 
to this nar 



Co7ttrast betwee7i Earlier and Later Periods 367 

for the decay of eloquence. But I leave them, my friends, 
as it is proper I should, to be mentioned by you ; having 
performed my share in the examination of this question, 
and with a freedom which will give, I imagine, as usual, 
much offence. I am sure, at least, if certain of our con- 
temporaries were to be informed of what I have here main- 
tained, I should be told, that in laying it down as a maxim, 
that a knowledge both of law and philosophy are essential 
qualifications in an orator, I have been fondly pursuing a 
phantom of my own imagination. 

33. I am so far from thinking, replied Maternus, that 
you have completed the part you undertook, that I should 
rather imagine you had only given us the first general 
sketch of your design. You have marked out to us, indeed, 
those sciences wherein the ancient orators were instructed, 
and have placed in strong contrast their successful industry 
with our sloth and ignorance. But something further still 
remains ; and as you have shown us what was the vastness 
of their knowledge, and the littleness of our own, I would 
have you acquaint us also with the particular exercises 
by which the youth of those earlier days were wont to 
strengthen and improve their genius. For I think you 
will not deny that oratory is acquired by practice far better 
than by precept : and our friends here seem, by their coun- 
tenances, to imply as much. 

Aper and Secundus having signified their assent, Mes- 
sala, resumed his discourse as follows : 

Having then, as it should seem, disclosed to your satis- The 
faction the seeds and first principles of ancient eloquence, "lethods of 
by specifying the several studies in which the ancient education. 
orators were trained ; I shall now lay before you the prac- 
tical exercises they pursued, in order to gain a facility in 
the exertion of eloquence. Note, however, that the very 
act of studying implies practice ; for it is impossible to 
acquire knowledge so various and recondite, without knowl- 
edge leading to reflection, reflection to grasp and com- 
mand of thought, and this to ready power of utterance. 
Thus it appears that to learn what you shall deliver, and 
to be able to deliver what you have learned, are in princi- 
ple one and the same. But if in this I appear to any one 
to speculate too abstrusely ; if any one insist on separating 



■368 Source Book of the History of Education 

knowledge from practice, at least he will not deny that a 
mind filled with manifold instruction will enter with so 
much the more advantage upon those exercises peculiar to 
the oratorical circus. 
Education 34. The practice of our ancestors was agreeable to this 

by appren- theory. The youth who was intended for public declama- 
tices ip. '\\qx^^ was introduced by his father, or some near relation, 
with all the advantages of home discipHne and a mind 
furnished with useful knowledge, to the most eminent 
orator of the time, whom thenceforth he attended upon all 
occasions ; he listened with attention to his patron's plead- 
ings in the tribunals of justice, and his public harangues 
before the people ; he heard him in the warmth of argu- 
ment ; he noted his sudden replies ; and thus, in the field 
of battle, if I may so express myself, he learned the first 
rudiments of rhetorical warfare. The advantages of this 
method are obvious : the young candidate gained courage, 
and improved his judgment; he studied in open day, 
amidst the heat of the conflict, where nothing weak or 
idle could be said with impunity ; where everything absurd 
was instantly rebuked by the judge, exposed to ridicule 
by the adversary, and condemned by the whole body of 
advocates. In this way they imbibed at once the pure 
and uncorrupted streams of genuine eloquence. But 
thougl"^ they chiefly attached themselves to one particular 
orator, they heard Hkewise all the rest of their contem- 
porary pleaders, in many of their respective debates ; and 
they had an opportunity of acquainting themselves with 
the various sentiments of the people, and of observing 
what pleased or disgusted them most in the several orators 
of the forum. Thus they were supplied with an instructor 
of the best and most improving kind, exhibiting, not the 
feigned semblance of Eloquence, but her real and lively 
manifestation : not a pretended, but a genuine adversary, 
armed in earnest for the combat ; an audience, ever full 
and ever new, composed of foes as well as friends, and 
where not a single expression could fall uncensured, or 
unapplauded. For you are aware that a solid and last- 
ing reputation of eloquence must be acquired by the 
censure of our enemies, as well as by the applause of our 
friends; or rather, indeed, it is from the former that it 



Contrast between EaiHier and Later Periods 369 

derives its surest and most unquestioned strength and 
firmness. Under such a schooling, the youth of whom 
we are speaking, a disciple of all the orators ; an atten- 
tive hearer of all judicial proceedings; instructed by the 
experience of others ; daily conversant with the laws of 
his country ; famiUar with the faces of the judges, and the 
aspect of a full audience ; and well acquainted with the 
popular taste, — might be called on to conduct a prosecu- 
tion or a defence, and was equal to cope, single handed, 
with the dil^culties of his task. Crassus, at the age of 
nineteen, Caesar at twenty-one, Pollio at twenty-two, and 
Calvus when he was but a few years older, pronounced 
those several speeches againt Carbo, Dolabella, Cato, and 
Vatinius, which we read to this hour with admiration. 

35. On the other hand, our modern youth are sent to the Modern 
mountebank schools of certain declaimers called rhetori- methods 
cians : a set of men who made their first appearance in fristruction 
Rome a little before the time of Cicero. And that they before 
were by no means approved by our ancestors, plainly P^^.^*-!'^^- 
appears from their being enjoined, under the censorship ^ structio'n is 
of Crassus and Domitius, to shut up their schools of impn- artificial. 
dejice, as Cicero expresses it. But I was going to say, 
our youths are sent to certain academies, where it is hard 
to determine whether the place, the company, or the 
method of instruction is most Hkely to infect the minds of 
young people, and produce a wrong turn of thought. 
There can be nothing to inspire respect in a place where 
all who enter it are of the same low degree of understand- 
ing ; nor any advantage to be received from their fellow- 
students, where a parcel of boys and raw youths of unripe 
judgments harangue before each other, without the least 
fear or danger of criticism. And as for their exercises, Formal 
they are ridiculous in their very nature. They consist of ^^^''^j^\^'' ?^ 
two kinds, and are either persuasive or controversial. The ^^j schools, 
first, as being easier and requiring less skill, is assigned to 
the younger lads ; the other is the task of more mature 
years. But, good gods ! with what incredible absurdity 
are they composed ! And this as a matter of course, for 
the style of the declamations must needs accord with the 
preposterous nature of the subjects. Thus being taught 

1 92 A.D.; 662 A.U.C. 



370 Source Book of the History of Education 

to harangue in a most pompous diction, on the rewards 
due to tyrannicides, on the election to be made by deflow- 
ered virgins, on the licentiousness of married women, on 
the ceremonies to be observed in times of pestilence, with 
other topics,^ which are daily debated in the schools, and 
scarce ever in the forum ; when they come before the 
real judges. . . . 

^ These are specimen topics of themes debated in the rhetorical schools. 



IV. SURVIVAL OF EARLY ROMAN EDUCA- 
TIONAL IDEALS IN THE LATER PERIOD 

The Sources bearing on this topic are minor selections 
from historians relative to the education of historic char- 
acters, and the first chapter from the Thoughts of the Em- 
peror Marcus Aurelius. The education of the four youths 
therein described falls in the third period of Roman educa- 
tion. Each of the four attended to some extent the Hellen- 
ized school, and in this respect these selections should be 
classified with those of the succeeding group. But while 
they throw light upon the education of that period, they 
are not typical of it. They represent the preservation 
of the old Roman educational traditions in the Hellen- 
ized period, modified necessarily by the dominant influ- 
ences ; but in spirit and method, and, to a certain extent 
in organization, though not in content, they represent 
the education of the earlier period. The earliest of the 
four quotations is the brief description of the early edu- 
cation of Titus Pomponius Atticus, born 109 B.C. The 
description is taken from the Lives of Eminent Com- 
manders of Cornelius Nepos. Here is given the bare out- 
lines of the education at home of a youth of equestrian 
rank. When twenty-one years of age, this youth removed 
to Athens, thereafter devoting many years to study, though 
of this Nepos tells little. 

The second quotation dates from almost a century later, 
and relates to the education given by the first emperor, 

371 



372 Source Book of the History of Education 

Caesar Augustus, to his daughter and grandchildren. The 
importance of the evidence is due to the Hght it throws on 
the method and content of education in the imperial 
family, as such education is clearly a survival of that of 
the earlier period. Unfortunately, there is no parallel in 
results, for the later career of these children was quite 
in accord with the degeneracy of the upper classes of 
society at that time ; but even here we find an evidence of 
the validity of old Roman educational methods, for the chil- 
dren did but imitate the example of father and grandfather. 

The third reference is indicative of the survival of the 
old ideas in the provinces, and relates to the education of 
Cnaeus Julius Agricola (37-93 a. d.). It is taken from the 
biography by the historian Tacitus, and bears evidence of 
the importance of parental influence in education and of 
the method of apprenticeship in military training. 

The fourth selection gives in great detail the education 
of a noble youth according to old custom, for the most 
part long since fallen into decay. It is the autobio- 
graphical chapter of the Thoughts of the philosopher 
emperor, and belongs to the second Christian century. 
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (b. 121 a.d., d. 180) was the 
adopted son of the Emperor Antoninus Pius, and associ- 
ated with him for many years in the imperial office. At 
the death of Pius, in 161, Marcus became emperor, in turn 
associating with him Lucius Verus. After the death of 
Verus, Marcus ruled alone for the remainder of his life, a 
reign of nineteen years. His early education was cared 
for by his paternal grandfather and by his foster-father, 
who was one of the best Roman emperors of any period. 
In spirit and method it represents the continuation of 
the old Roman traditions ; in its content, it was much more 



Survival of Early Ideals in Later Periods 373 

literary, — not literary, however, after the prevailing 
notions, for Marcus Aurelius early turned to the study of 
philosophy instead of the popular study of rhetoric. The 
type of philosophy pursued was the Stoic, which formed a 
continuation of old Roman ideals in a literary age and in a 
philosophical form. His practical education was directed 
in the same manner. In fact, the Stoic philosophy at that 
period was little more than the practical wisdom of old 
Roman Hfe put in Grecian literary form. The Hfe of the 
emperor was one of practical military duties, revealing 
throughout the effects of his early education. The one 
blot on his character was his persecutions of the Christians, 
the new religious sect which he did not understand, and 
which at that time was causing so much disturbance 
throughout the empire. His Thoughts were written while 
on a campaign against the Marcomanni, and are dated 
at the various camps along the Danube. The first chap- 
ter gives the account of the formation of his character 
and the outline of his early education. The remaining 
eleven chapters, or books, are a collection of maxims, or 
thoughts, — one of the best practical expositions of the 
Stoic philosophy. 

The Stoic Philosophy represented the continuance of old 
Roman ideas and practices in the later imperial period. 
Its introduction into Rome was coincident with the 
change to the Hellenized Roman education. In its origin, 
two centuries earlier, it had represented the early influ- 
ence of the West on Grecian thought, and had never 
found popular acceptance until transplanted to Rome. 
There it became dominant, not so much as a school of 
philosophical discussion, as was the case in Greece, but 
rather as a school of thought and a type of life. In the 



374 Source Book of the History of Education 

imperial period, however, Eclecticism and Epicureanism, 
rather than Stoicism, were more in line with the tenden- 
cies of the times. In the last century and a half of the 
Republic, Stoicism became popular as a systematization 
of old Roman ideas of life, and it continued in imperial 
periods only so far as the old ideals commanded respect. 
Hence even the literary education as described by Marcus 
Aurelius is not typical, but represents the only possible 
survival of the old in an age of culture and intellectual 
refinement. Even at best, the Stoic philosophy was so 
bound up with the old, especially the old religion, that it 
could not command full sympathy in quarters of indepen- 
dent thought. Hence, opposed by the Cynics and Eclectics 
on the one hand, by the Epicureans and the indifferent or 
scoffing public on the other, these survivals of the old 
commanded neither the following nor the respect that 
their character would seem to justify. 

Summary of Survivals. — The most patent of these 
relates to the organization of education. Training, 
instruction, centre in the home ; the parent retains the 
interest, the sense of responsibility, and the character that 
made for the results of earlier times. Where the parent 
cannot give the higher instruction, tutors are employed 
under the direct supervision of the parent. As to pur- 
pose, education is still largely moral and relates to conduct 
rather than to acquisition of knowledge or of oratorical 
power. The enumeration by Aurelius of the influences 
to which were due the formation of his character, are, 
in this respect, most suggestive. So far as instruction is 
literary, it has for its aim the acquisition of practical wis- 
dom rather than of dialectic skill or forensic verbosity. 
A large part of the content of education is to learn by 



Survival of Early Ideals in Later Periods 375 

experience and observation the duties of the householder, 
of the military commander, of the public administrator. 
This method, which makes education a training and not 
a process of instruction, is essentially the old Roman 
method. Formation of character and the development of 
the power to do through direct experience in the observa- 
tion and imitation of others, are its essential characteristics. 

Selection from the Life of T. Pompontus Atticus, by Cor- 
nelius Nepos 

CHAPTER I 

Pomponius Atticus, descended of an ancient Roman 
family, kept the equestrian dignity, received by uninter- Early edu- 
rupted succession from his ancestors. He had a diligent cation and 
and indulgent father, and, as the times were then, rich, Ro^^an^ 
and above all things, a lover of learning. As he loved youth of 
learning himself, he instructed his son in all that sort of highest 
literature that youth ought to be acquainted with. There 
was in him when a boy, besides a docility of wit, a mighty 
sweetness of mouth and voice, that he not only quickly 
took in what was taught him, but also pronounced excel- 
lently ; upon which account he was reckoned famous 
amongst his fellows in his childhood, and shone out more 
brightly than his noble school-fellows were able to bear 
with a patient mind ; wherefore he pushed them all for- 
ward by his great application, in which number was L. 
Torquatus, C. Marius the son, M. Cicero, whom he so 
engaged to him by his acquaintance with them, that 
nobody was all along all more dear to them. 

Selection from, the Lives of the First Twelve Ccesars by 
C. Suetonius Tranquillus — Life of Ccesar Augustus 

LXIV 

He had three grandsons by Agrippa and Julia, Caius, 
Lucius, and Agrippa ; and two grand-daughters, Julia and 



rank. 



;76 Source Book of the History of Education 



Education 
of children 
of highest 
rank in the 
home. 



Agrippina. Julia he married to Lucius Paullus, the 
Censor's son, and Agrippina to Germanicus, his sister's 
grandson. Caius and Lucius he adopted at home, by the 
ceremony of purchase from their father ; advanced them, 
whilst yet but very young, to posts in the government ; and 
after he had procured them to be chosen Consuls, sent 
them upon a tour through the provinces of the empire and 
the several armies. In the breeding of his daughter and 
grand-daughters, he accustomed them to domestic em- 
ployments, and obliged them to speak and act everything 
openly before the family, that it might be put down in the 
diary. He so strictly prohibited them from all converse 
with strangers, that he once wrote a letter to Lucius Vini- 
cius, a handsome young man of a good family, in which 
he told him, " You have not behaved very modestly, in 
making a visit to my daughter at Baise." He usually in- 
structed his grandsons himself in reading, swimming, and 
other rudiments of knowledge ; and he labored at nothing 
more than to perfect them in the imitation of his hand- 
writing. He never supped but he had them sitting at the 
foot of his bed ; nor ever travelled but with them in a 
chariot before him, or riding beside him. 



The influ- 
ence of a 
Roman 
mother in 
the educa- 
tion of her 



Selection from the Agricola of Tacitus 

4. CNiEus Julius Agricola was born at the ancient and 
illustrious colony of Forumjulii.^ . . . His mother was 
Julia Procilla, a lady of exemplary chastity. Educated 
with tenderness in her bosom, he passed his childhood and 
youth in the attainment of every liberal art. He was pre- 
served from the allurements of vice, not only by a natur- 
ally good disposition, but by being sent very early to 
pursue his studies at Massilia ; ^ a place where Grecian 
politeness and provincial frugality are happily united, I 
remember he was used to relate, that in his early youth 



^ Probably in Narbonnensian Gaul, though there was another colony of the 
same name in Umbria. 

2 Marseilles. It was a Grecian colony, and Grecian characteristics re- 
mained during the Roman control. 



Survival of Early Ideals in Later Periods 377 

he should have engaged with more ardour in philosophical 
speculation than was suitable to a Roman and a senator, 
had not the prudence of his mother restrained the warmth 
and vehemence of his disposition : for his lofty and up- 
right spirit, inflamed by the charms of glory and exalted 
reputation, led him to the pursuit with more eagerness 
than discretion. Reason and riper years tempered his 
warmth ; and from the study of wisdom, he retained what 
is most difficult to compass, — moderation. 

5. He learned the rudiments of war in Britain, under 
Suetonius Paullinus, an active and prudent commander, 
who chose him for his tent companion, in order to form 
an estimate of his merit. Nor did Agricola, like many 
young men, who convert military service into wanton pas- 
time, avail himself licentiously or slothfully of his tribuni- 
tial title, or his inexperience, to spend his time in pleasures 
and absences from duty ; but he employed himself in 
gaining a knowledge of the country, making himself known 
to the army, learning from the experienced, and imitating 
the best ; neither pressing to be employed through vain- 
glory, nor declining it through timidity ; and performing his 
duty with equal solicitude and spirit. 

Selections from the Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aure- 
lUis Antoninus ^ 

CHAPTER I 



Military 
education 
by appren- 
ticeship. 



I. From my grandfather Verus (I learned) good morals Early 



and the government of my temper. 

2. From the reputation and remembrance of my father,^ 
modesty and a manly character. 

3. From my mother,^ piety and beneficence, and absti- 
nence, not only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts ; 
and further, simplicity in my way of living, far removed 
from habits of the rich. 



influence 
of his 

parents and 
•tutors. 



* From the translation by Long. 

2 Bearing the same name as his grandfather, Annius Verus. 

' Domitia Calvilla. 



378 Source Book of the History of Education 



Influence of 
the teach- 
ings of the 
Stoics. 



4. From my great-grandfather,^ not to have frequented 
public schools, and to have had good teachers at home, 
and to know that on such things a man should spend 
liberally. 

5. From my governor, to be neither of the green nor 
of the blue party at the games in the Circus,^ nor a par- 
tisan either of the Parmularius or the Scutarius,^ at the 
gladiators' fights ; from him too I learned endurance of 
labor, and to want little, and to work with my own hands, 
and not to meddle with other people's affairs, and not to 
be ready to listen to slander. 

6. From Diognetus, not to busy myself about trifling 
things, and not to give credit to what was said by miracle- 
workers and jugglers about incantations and the driving 
away of daemons and such things ; and not to breed quails 
(for fighting), nor to give myself up passionately to such 
things ; and to endure freedom of speech ; and to have 
become intimate with philosophy; and to have been a 
hearer, first of Bacchius, then of Tandasis and Marcianus ; 
and to have written dialogues in my youth ; to have desired 
a plank bed and skin, and whatever else of the kind be- 
longs to the Grecian discipline. 

7. From Rusticus* I received the impression that my 
character required improvement and discipline ; and from 
him I learned not to be led astray to sophistic emulation, 
nor to writing on speculative matters, nor to delivering 
little hortatory orations, nor to showing myself off as a 
man who practises much discipline, or does benevolent 

^ It is suggested that his mother's grandfather, CatiUus Severus, is here re- 
ferred to. 

"^ The factions were originally companies of contractors who provided 
horses, drivers, and all other requisites for the games. These factions 
were distinguished by colors, — originally two, — red and white; later, in the 
time of Augustus, blue and green were added; still later, purple and gold. 
In time each faction was organized into a collegium or union. The rivalry 
between these became intense, the populace taking sides. Even at Rome 
factional fights took place; later at Constantinople these became very serious, 
one during the reign of Justinian causing the loss of thirty thousand lives. 

^ The parmularius carried the parma, a small round shield; the scutarius 
carried the scutum, a large oblong shield. 

* A Stoic philosopher. 



Survival of Early Ideals in Later Periods 379 

acts in order to make a display ; and to abstain from 
rhetoric, and poetry, and fine writing ; and not to walk 
about in the house in my outdoor dress, nor to do other 
things of the kind ; and to write my letters with simphcity, 
like the letter which Rusticus wrote from Sinuessa to my 
mother ; and with respect to those who have offended me 
by words, or done me wrong, to be easily disposed to be 
pacified and reconciled, as soon as they have shown a 
readiness to be reconciled ; and to read carefully, and not 
to be satisfied with a superficial understanding of a book ; 
nor hastily to give my assent to those who talk over-much ; 
and I am indebted to him for being acquainted with the 
discourses of Epictetus, which he communicated to me out 
of his own recollection. 

8. From Apollonius^ I learned freedom of will and 
undeviating steadiness of purpose ; and to look to nothing 
else, not even for a moment, except to reason ; and to be 
always the same, in sharp pains, on the occasion of the 
loss of a child, and in long illness ; and to see clearly in a 
living example that the same man can be most resolute 
and yielding, and not peevish in giving his instruction ; 
and to have had before my eyes a m^an who clearly con- 
sidered his experience and his skill in expounding philoso- 
phical principles as to the smallest of his merits; and from 
him I learned how to receive from friends what are 
esteemed favors, without being either humbled by them 
or letting them pass unnoticed. 

9. From Sextus,^ a benevolent disposition, and the 
example of a family governed in a fatherly manner, and the 
idea of living conformably to nature ; and gravity without 
affectation, and to look carefully after the interests of 
friends, and to tolerate ignorant persons, and those who 
form opinions without consideration : he had the power of 
readily accommodating himself to all, so that intercourse 
with him was more agreeable than any flattery ; and at the 
same time he was most highly venerated by those who 
associated with him ; and he had the faculty both of dis- 
covering and ordering, in an intelligent and methodical 

* A Stoic philosopher, preceptor to Antoninus. 

* A grandson of Plutarch. 



380 Source Book of the History of Education 



Influence of 
the gram- 
matical and 
rhetorical 
teachers. 



His appren- 
ticeship in 
Politus. 



way, the principles necessary for life ; and he never 
showed anger or any other passion, but was entirely free 
from passion, and also most affectionate ; and he could 
express approbation without noisy display, and he pos- 
sessed much knowledge without ostentation. 

10. From Alexander,^ the grammarian, to refrain from 
fault-finding, and not in a reproachful way to chide those 
who uttered any barbarous or solecistic or strange-sounding 
expression ; but dexterously to introduce the very expres- 
sion which ought to have been used, and in the way of 
answer or giving confirmation, or joining in an inquiry 
about the thing itself, not about the word, or by some other 
fit suggestion. 

11. From Fronto^ I learned to observe what envy and 
duplicity, and hypocrisy are in a tyrant, and that gener- 
ally those among us who are called Patricians are rather 
deficient in paternal affection. 

12. From Alexander the Platonic, not frequently nor 
without necessity to say to any one, or to write in a letter, 
that I have no leisure ; nor continually to excuse the 
neglect of duties required by our relation to those with 
whom we live, by alleging urgent occupations. 

13. From Catulus,^ not to be indifferent when a friend 
finds fault, even if he should find fault without reason, but 
to try to restore him to his usual disposition ; and to be 
ready to speak well of teachers, as it is reported of Domi- 
tius and Athenodotus ; and to love my children truly. 

14. From my brother Severus,* to love my kin, and to 
love truth, and to love justice; and through him I learned 
to know Thrasea, Helvidius, Cato, Dion, Brutus;^ and 
from him I received the idea of a polity in which there is 
the same law for all, a polity administered with regard to 
equal rights and equal freedom of speech, and the idea of a 
kingly government which respects most of all the freedom 



^ A grammaticus, a native of Phrygia. I 

^ Cornelius Fronto, a rhetorician and teacher and friend of Antoninus. 
' A Stoic philosopher. 

* Antoninus has no brother. It may mean cousin, or the word brother 
may not be genuine. 

^ See Plutarch's Lives for the latter three. 



Survival of Early Ideals hi Later Periods 381 



of the governed ; I learned from him also consistency and 
undeviating steadiness in my regard for philosophy ; and 
a disposition to do good, and to give to others readily, 
and to cherish good hopes, and to believe that I am loved 
by my friends ; and in him I observed no concealment of 
his opinions with respect to those whom he condemned, 
and that his friends had no need to conjecture what he 
wished or did not wish, but it was quite plain. 

15. From Maximus^ I learned self-government, and not 
to be led aside by anything ; and cheerfulness in all circum- 
stances, as well as in illness; and a just admixture in the 
moral character of sweetness and dignity, and to do what 
was set before me without complaining. I observed that 
everybody believed that he thought as he spoke, and that 
in all that he did he never had any bad intention ; and he 
never showed amazement and surprise, and was never in 
a hurry, and never put off doing a thing, nor was per- 
plexed nor dejected, nor did he ever laugh to disguise his 
vexation, nor, on the other hand, was he ever passionate 
or suspicious. He was accustomed to do acts of benefi- 
cence, and was ready to forgive, and was free from all 
falsehood ; and he presented the appearance of a man 
who could not be diverted from right rather than of a 
man who had been improved. I observed, too, that no man 
could ever think that he was despised by Maximus, or ever 
venture to think himself a better man. He had also the 
art of being humorous in an agreeable way. 

16. In my father ^ I observed mildness of temper, and Education 
unchangeable resolution in the things which he had ^' ^o'cao. 
determined after due deliberation, and no vain-glory in 
those things which men call honors, and a love of labor 
and perseverance, and a readiness to listen to those who 
had anything to propose for the common weal, and un- 
deviating iirmness in giving to every man according to his 
deserts and a knowledge derived from experience of the 
occasions for vigorous action and for remission. And I 
observed that he had overcome all passion for boys ; and 
he considered himself no more than any other citizen, and 



through 
imitation. 



^ A Stoic philosopher. 

2 His foster-father and predecessor, the Emperor Antoninus Pius. 



382 Source Book of tke History of Education 

he released his friends from all obligation to sup with him 
or to attend him of necessity when he went abroad, and 
those who had failed to accompany him, by reason of any 
great circumstances, always found him the same. I ob- 
served too his habit of careful inquiry in all matters of 
deliberation, and his persistency, and that he never stopped 
his investigation through being satisfied with appearances 
which first present themselves ; and that his disposition was 
to keep his friends, and not to be soon tired of them, nor 
yet to be extravagant in his affection ; and to be satisfied 
on all occasions, and cheerful ; and to foresee things a long 
way off, and to provide for the smallest without display ; 
and to check immediately popular applause and all flattery ; 
and to be ever watchful over the things which were neces- 
sary for the administration of the empire, and to be a good 
manager of the expenditure, and patiently to endure the 
blame which he got for such conduct ; and he was neither 
superstitious with respect to the gods, nor did he court, 
men by gifts or by trying to please them, or by flattering! 
the populace ; but he showed sobriety in all things and 
firmness, and never any mean thoughts or action, nor love 
of novelty. And the things which conduce in any way to 
the commodity of life, and of which fortune gives an abun- . 
dant supply, he used without arrogance and without excus-| 
ing himself, so that when he had them he enjoyed them"' 
without affectation, and when he had them not he did not 
want them. No one could ever say of him that he was 
either a sophist, or a (home-bred) flippant slave, or a 
pedant; but every one acknowledged him to be a man 
ripe, perfect, above flattery, able to manage his own and 
other men's affairs. Besides this, he honored those who 
were true philosophers, and he did not reproach those who 
pretended to be philosophers, nor yet was he easily led by 
them. He was also easy in conversation, and he made him- 
self agreeable without any offensive affectation. He took 
a reasonable care of his body's health, not as one who was 
greatly attached to life, nor out of regard to personal ap- 
pearance, nor yet in a careless way, but so that through 
his own attention he very seldom stood in need of the 
physician's art or of medicine or external applications. He 
was most ready to give way without envy to those who 



Sui'vival of Early Ideals in Later Periods 383 

possessed any particular faculty, such as that of eloquence 
or knowledge of the law or of morals, or of anything else ; 
and he gave them his help, that each might enjoy reputa- 
tion according to his deserts ; and he always acted comform- 
ably to the institutions of his country, without showing any 
affectation of doing so. Further, he was not fond of change, 
nor unsteady, but he loved to stay in the same places, and 
to employ himself about the same things ; and after his 
paroxysms of headache he came immediately fresh and 
vigorous to his usual occupations. His secrets were not 
many, but very few and very rare, and these only about 
public matters ; and he showed prudence and economy in 
the exhibition of the public spectacles and the construction 
of public buildings, his donations to the people, and in 
such things, for he was a man who looked to what ought 
to be done, not to the reputation which is got by a man's 
acts. He did not take the bath at unseasonable hours ; 
he was not fond of building houses, nor curious about what 
he ate, nor about the texture and color of his clothes, nor 
about the beauty of his slaves. His dress came from Lorium, 
his villa on the coast, and from Lanuvium ^ generally. We 
know how he behaved to the toll-collector at Tusculum who 
asked his pardon ; and such was all his behavior. There 
was in him nothing harsh, nor implacable, nor violent, nor, 
as one may say, anything carried to the sweating point ; 
but he examined all things severally, as if he had abundance 
of time, and without confusion, in an orderly way, vigor- 
ously and consistently. And that might be applied to him 
which is recorded of Socrates,^ that he was able both to 
abstain from and to enjoy those things which many are too 
weak to abstain from and cannot enjoy without excess. But 
to be strong enough both to bear the one and to be sober 
in the other is the mark of a man who has a perfect and 
invincible soul, such as he showed in the illness of Maximus. 

17. To the gods I am indebted for having good grand- Religious 
fathers, good parents, a good sister, good teachers, good ^"4 '^^'^^ 
associates, good kinsmen and friends, nearly every thing "^^^"^"8- 
good. Further, I owe it to the gods that I was not hurried 

^ A villa on the coast north of Rome. Antoninus was brought up there. 
* Xenophon, Memorabilia, L, 3, 15. 



384 Source Book of the History of Education 

into any offence against any of them, though I had a dis- 
position which, if opportunity had offered, might have led 
me to do something of this kind ; but through their favor 
there never was such a concurrence of circumstances as 
put me to the trial. Further, I am thankful to the gods 
that I was not longer brought up with my grandfather's 
concubine, . . . and that I was subjected to a ruler and a 
father who was able to take away all pride from me, and 
to bring me to the knowledge that it is possible for a man 
to Hve in a palace without wanting either guards or 
embroidered dresses, or torches and statues, and such-like 
show ; but that it is in such a man's power to bring himself 
very near to the fashion of a private person, without being 
for this reason either meaner in thought or more remiss 
in action with respect to the things which must be done 
His grati- for the public interest in a manner that befits a ruler. I 
tude for the thank the gods for giving me such a brother, who was 
conTerr?d by ^^^ ^Y ^^^ moral character to rouse me to vigilance over 
the gods. myself, and who at the same time pleased me by his 
respect and affection ; that my children have not been 
stupid nor deformed in body ; that I did not make more 
proficiency in rhetoric, poetry, and the other studies, in 
which I should perhaps have been completely engaged if 
I had seen that I was making progress in them ; that I 
made haste to place those who brought me up in the sta- 
tion of honor which they seemed to desire, without putting 
them off with hope of my doing it some time after, because 
they were then still young ; that I knew Apollonius, Rus- 
ticus, Maximus ; that I received clear and frequent impres- 
sions about living according to nature, and what kind of a 
life that is, so that so far as depended on the gods, and 
their gifts, and help, and inspirations, nothing hindered me 
from forthwith living according to nature, though I still 
fall short of it through my own fault and through not 
observing the admonitions of the gods, and I may almost 
say, their direct instructions ; that my body has held out 
so long in such kind of life ; that I never touched either 
Benedicta or Theodotus, and that after having fallen into 
amatory passions I was cured ; and, though I was often 
out of humor with Rusticus, I never did any thing of which 
I had occasion to repent ; that though it was my mother's 



Survival of Early Ideals in Later Periods 385 

fate to die young, she spent the last years of her life with 
me ; that whenever I wished to help any man in his need, or 
on any other occasion, I was never told that I had not the 
means of doing it ; and that to myself the same necessity 
never happened to receive any thing from another ; that I 
have such a wife, so obedient, and so affectionate, and so 
simple ; that I had abundance of good masters for my 
children ; and that remedies have been shown to me by 
dreams, both others, and against bloodspitting and giddi- 
ness ; 1 . . . and that when I had an inclination to philoso- Escape from 
phy I did not fall into the hands of any sophists, and that a literary 
I did not waste my time on writers (of histories), or in the ^ "^^ '°°' 
resolution of syllogisms, or occupy myself about the inves- 
tigation of appearances in the heavens ; for all these things 
require the help of the gods and fortune. 
Among the Quadi at the Granua.^ 

1 Probably written during the war with the Quadi. They lived in what it 
now the southern part of Bohemia. The Granua flows into the Danube. 

2 Text is corrupt. 



2C 



V. THE THIRD PERIOD,: THE HELLENIZED 
ROMAN EDUCATION 



The Period in which the Hellenized education domi- i 
nated without causing a complete extinction of the old 
Roman virility, includes the last century of the Republic 
and the first century and a half or two centuries of the 
Empire. Within that period profound changes occurred, 
though education had not yet become a purely artificial 
and lifeless affair, nor Roman stability and moraUty, a 
thing of the past. This period comprises the Cicero- 
nian, the Augustan, and the " Silver Age " of Latin 
literature. During this period the Romans attained to 
whatever merits they possessed of literary and artistic 
character. It covers that time wherein their great gen- 1 
ius for assimilation and organization was directed into 
purely intellectual channels. During this time Grecian 
educational ideas and practices were modified to fit Roman 
conditions, and a characteristic education resulted. This 
differed in content from the Grecian, for the Romans 
were too practical to be able to obtain liberalizing results 
from music and gymnastic, and too sedate to tolerate 
much that was thoroughly characteristic of the Greek. 
Education though much better organized and systematized 
than with the Greek, was in its method less thoroughly 
rationalized ; for with the Romans education remained es- 
sentially a training process. The sources given in this 
section are all drawn from the literature of the early im- 

386 



The Hellenized Roman Education 387 

perial period, and, with the exception of the selection from 
the Satires of Horace, refer to the education of this por- 
tion of the third period. 

The Sources and their Authors. — The first selections 
given are several brief excerpts from the Satires, Epistles, 
and Ars Poetica of Horace. They relate to the ideals, 
subject-matter, method, and organization of education dur- 
ing the period of his boyhood. Horace was born 65 B.C. 
at Venusia, where he received his early education. Dis- 
satisfied with the work of the provincial schools, his 
father removed to the capital for the express purpose of 
improving his son's educational opportunities. Hence the 
testimony of Horace concerning the schooling of his time 
is especially valuable ; for although given incidentally, 
the educational conditions referred to were of epoch-making 
importance in his Ufe. At Rome he attended the school 
of Orbilius, whose life is given by Suetonius in his 
Eminent Gramniariajis. Horace became practically the 
laureate of the Augustan Age. The Epistles and Satires, 
from which these selections are made, were written be- 
tween the years 35 B.C. and 8 B.C., the year of the poet's 
death. Both because they give a most intimate view of 
everyday Roman life, and also because they soon came to 
be an established text-book in Roman schools, the writings 
of Horace are valuable to the student of education. 

The two Epigrams of Martial relate to the Roman 
schools, and give intimate views of their practical work- 
ings. M. Valerius MartiaHs was born in Spain 43 a.d., 
came to Rome during the reign of Nero, and for thirty- 
five years remained in the favor of successive emperors. 
His fifteen hundred Epigrams form an important source of 
information concerning the social customs of the first cen- 



388 Source Book of the History of Education 

tury of the empire. The two books from which the two 
selections are made were written between 90 and 99 a.d. 

One brief selection, given from the Lives of the Twelve 
CcBsars, by Suetonius, relates to the grant of imperial sup- 
port to education. It has been previously noted that the 
literary work of Suetonius followed his fall from favor, 
121 A.D. The reign of Vespasian, to whom was due the 
beginning of this most important custom, extended from 
70 to 79 A.D. 

The fragments of the writings of Gaius Musonius Rufus 
furnish the next selection. Musonius lived during the 
last half of the first Christian century, and was especially 
in favor with Vespasian. While the discussion directly 
concerns the education of women, it relates at the same 
time to the methods and character of education in general, 
since Musonius held that it should be essentially the same 
as that of men. 

Aside from the work of Quintilian, the most extensive 
references to the educational conditions of the times are to 
be found in the correspondence of the younger Pliny, 
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus was born 62 a.d., and 
died about 1 14. His life was spent in the service of the 
state, where he held many important offices, including 
those of consul and of provincial governor. He was a 
pupil of Quintilian and a friend of Martial, Suetonius, and 
Tacitus. As is evidenced by his Epistles, he is interested 
in almost every aspect of the public, social, and intellectual 
life of his times, and is one of the best types of the broad- 
minded Roman citizen. The collection of letters from 
which these selections are made dates from 97 to 108 a.d. 
The chief importance of the letters selected is their bear- 
ing upon the educational institutions of the times, though 



The Hellenized Roman Education 389 

they also refer to the method and content of the approved 
type of education. By reason of his broad experience, his 
cultivated taste, keen insight, and liberal views and dispo- 
sition, Pliny is competent to speak on these subjects. He 

'> is touched neither by the pessimism of the righteous nor 
the prevalent corruption of the masses of the times. 

! Upright both in public and private life, when the examples 
set in high places and frequently followed in inferior ones 
were the reverse, he gave his wealth and best efforts to 
the improvement of his fellows. He gives one aspect of 
the times, while the selections from Juvenal give quite 
another. 

Little definite is known concerning the life of Juvenal, 
but it is certain that the Satires belong to the first two 
decades of the second Christian century. He speaks with 
full authority on the education and the customs of his 
times, since he had the benefit of the liberal education of 
his times, and seems to have devoted the first forty years 
of his life to the study and practices of oratory, though 
rather in following his own inclinations than in prepara- 
tion for activity in schools or courts. It is only after his 
fortieth year that he devotes himself to writing. While 
some allowance must be made for the license of a satirist, 
we may at least be sure that he speaks with a full knowl- 
edge of the state of the education of that period. One of 
the satires, the seventh, is devoted to a discussion of the 
status of the literary profession, including teaching ; the 
other, the fourteenth, to the influence of the home in the 
moral education of the child. The whole of this satire is 
significant, treating as it does of the decadence of the 
times, but most of it must be omitted in deference to the 
standards of modern taste. 



390 Source Book of the History of Education 

Purpose and Content of Education of this Period. — This 

topic is treated in detail in the two chapters following ; yet 
there are side-lights of importance to be found in the selec- 
tions just referred to. Education, so far as it commands 
popular interest, has become wholly literary, and is com- 
prehended in the work of the grammatical and rhetorical 
schools of the day, of which oratory is the sole aim. 
Nevertheless, while there is little formal change, save by 
way of improvement, between the age of Cicero and that 
of Pliny and Juvenal, there is a profound change in the 
spirit. Education is still wholly rhetorical, but it has now 
become artificial, critical, affected, imitative, and marked 
by a pedantry and self-consciousness not found in the last 
age of the Republic. In these respects, education simply 
participates in the characteristic changes that have come 
about in society. 

In several of these selections interesting side-lights are 
thrown on the accepted purpose of education. Horace, in 
the Ars Poetica, objects to the materiahstic character of 
Roman education ; Musonius, as becomes a Stoic, insists 
that philosophy should have an important place in the 
education of both women and men ; Pliny, in the ninth 
Epistle of the seventh Book, holds that oratory should not 
be the sole aim of education. Still he does not broaden it 
beyond literary lines, and his argument is but another evi- 
dence of the artificiahty of the age as compared with the 
centuries of the Republic. 

The Organization of Education. — Both Horace and 
Martial give pictures of the ordinary school in Rome and 
in the provincial cities. It is the hidiis that is referred to 
by both, though Horace also makes reference to the gram- 
matical school of Orbihus. Of the Indus we see the early 



^ The Hellenized Roman Education 391 

and long hours ; the harsh discipline ; the unamiable and 
inefficient teachers ; the simple curriculum, consisting of 
reading, writing, and arithmetic. Horace, to be sure, 
speaks quite definitely of the use of literature as the basis 
of elementary school work, but evidently the Indus that he 
attended was of exceptional character. These schools con- 
tinue to be tuition schools, the customs as to the time and 
method of payment being indicated in both Horace and 
Martial. During this period the ludi practically supplant 
the home as institutions for early instruction ; and, if we 
accept the evidences of the protests of Juvenal, Tacitus, 
and others of the imperial period, as institutions for moral 
training as well. The burden of these morahsts, whether 
satirists or philosophers, is insistence upon the responsi- 
bility of the parents in this latter respect ; and this in- 
sistence is good evidence that the old customs have fallen 
into desuetude. 

After a few years in the ludus, the boy began attendance 
upon the secondary school, the school of iho. grammaticus. 
Here the instruction was wholly grammatical and literary, 
including both the Latin and Greek languages. To a con- 
siderable extent the Greek grammar schools and Latin 
grammar schools were distinct ; the approved plan was to 
send the boy to the Greek school first. The instruction in 
grammar continues to be given in many cases, perhaps in 
most cases, by tutors in the family. The care involved 
in the selection of these teachers as well as their rewards is 
indicated in the letters of Pliny and in the seventh Satire of 
Juvenal. Like the ludi, these schools are also private, 
though late in the second century of the Empire they are 
the recipients of government aid. Many of these schools 
trench upon the work of the rhetorical schools in giving 



392 Source Book of the History of Education 

instruction in declamation and disputation, as is evidenced 
in the comments of Suetonius given in the previous chap- 
ter and in some of the selections here given. 

During this period the higher or rhetorical education is 
definitely systematized. Despite the action of the Senate 
during the period of the Republic, and a similar action of 
the Emperor Domitian, 95 a.d., banishing philosophers and 
the higher teachers in Rome, this type of education flour- 
ished, and the schools of the rhetors represented the domi- 
nant education. Philosophical schools existed, but were 
never popular. The schools of the rhetors prepared the I 
great majority for Roman life. While to some extent this 
rhetorical education was also given by tutors, as is indi- 
cated by the third Epistle of the third Book of Pliny ; the 
school was the dominant type, as is demonstrated by the 
facts of the life of Quintilian and Suetonius' Lives of \ 
Eminent RhetoricianSy as well as by such descriptions as 
those of the seventh Satire of Juvenal and of Epistle viii., 
Book I., and Epistle xiii., Book IV., of PHny. 

To Vespasian, the father of Domitian, who took the J 
hostile attitude just indicated, is due the first public sup- 
port of education, a fact shown in the account of his life 
by Suetonius. Moreover, the letters of Pliny indicate that 
higher education in the provincial cities was still private ; 
and his acts, that, in some cases at least, private munificence 
came to the assistance of such local schools and that 
there existed schools supported in part by the civic com- 
munity. The imperial support of higher education begun 
by Vespasian was continued by Hadrian (i 17-138 a.d.) 
and by the Antonines (138-180 a.d.). To Antoninus Pius 
is due the conferment of privileges upon the teaching pro- 
fession, which were afterward granted to the Christian 



The Hellenized Roman Education 393 

clergy. These privileges were extended to a limited num- 
ber of grammarians, rhetoricians, and physicians in every 
civic community, — a custom equivalent to the imperial in- 
dorsement of education throughout the Empire. The later 
emperors, especially Gratian, made this system of support 
more definite. 

An additional feature of education during this period 
should be borne in mind. This is the custom, then preva- 
lent, of sending Roman youths to Athens and other East- 
ern educational centres to complete their schooling, and of 
sending provincial youths to Rome for like reason. As 
mentioned in the selections, such was the case with Cicero, 
Pliny, and perhaps Juvenal, on the one hand ; and with 
Horace and Quintilian, on the other. During this period, 
Athens and the Grecian East are still looked upon as the 
intellectual and educational centre, the Roman culture 
being, after all, but an imitation. 

The Method of Education during this period is also indi- 
cated in these selections. The dominant principle of 
Roman education during all periods was simple; since 
education was dominantly moral and practical, the method 
was chiefly that of direct imitation. Hence the great 
importance of the influence of the parent in the moral 
training of the child and the great use of biography in his 
instruction. This principle of method was carried over 
into his literary education, and as the higher types of 
schools were introduced, it brought about material modifi- 
cations in Grecian methods. The Roman attitude toward 
method is expressed in the very brief quotation from the 
Epistles of Seneca and in the quotations from Horace, 
Juvenal, and Pliny. The methods of instruction in the 
rhetorical schools are indicated in the seventh Satire of 



394 Source Book of the History of Education 

Juvenal, and also described in the ninth Epistle, Book VII., 
of Pliny. This subject is treated in great detail in the 
selections from Quintilian given later. 

The Education of Women is treated in the selections from 
Musonius, which, however, must be taken as an abstract 
discussion rather than a statement of practical conditions. 
But the education of women at Rome was on a higher 
plane than at Athens, for in this, as in other respects, they 
were more nearly upon an equality with men. The 
iufluence of cultured women upon the education of their 
children is seen in the references to the mother of the 
Gracchi and the mother of Agricola, as well as in the 
Epistle of Pliny to Correllia Hispulla. While much greater 
freedom was allowed to married women in Rome than in 
Greece, and while they were more nearly on an equality 
with their husbands, their education was essentially a home 
training. There are evidences that it was nothing uncom- 
mon for girls to attend the Indus ; but if they aspired 
to the literary or higher education as was possible without 
loss of reputation and of influence of the home as in 
Greece, they obtained it through the employment of tutors. 
There is no definite place for the education of women in 
the higher education of the times. 

The Decadence of Roman Education is a question of rela- 
tivity. Tacitus and Juvenal discuss its decline, the former 
on the intellectual side, the latter especially on the moral. 
By the close of the first Christian century there is, to be sure, 
decline in some respects, but certainly there are advances 
in others. Both decline and advance are indicated briefly 
in these sources. Oratory has lost its great inspiration 
with the change to the Empire, and hence has become much 
more formal and artificial ; the literature of the period is 



The Hellenized Roman Education 395 

great on account of its form, not on account of its origi- 
j nality or its power of inspiration ; and in a similar way, edu- 
cation becomes formal and in time artificial. There is also a 
marked change in the character of Roman society. While 
the change in moral standards, together with luxury and 
debauchery in the higher classes, has become permanent, 
the fatal weaknesses of Roman society do not appear until 
later. This decline from the high intellectual and moral 
status of the earlier period occurs at the time of an exten- 
sion of the privileges of education and an increased interest 
in the support of education on the part of the government 
and public-spirited citizens. This is probably but another 
evidence of the general dechne in virility and morality, for 
it is in order to combat these tendencies that education is 
encouraged. There is not only a multipHcation of schools 
and the development of the educational system, but also a 
similar development in the method and workings of the 
schools. This again is taken by some to be but a further 
evidence of the artificiality of the tim'^.s. At the same time 
it cannot be doubted that, with the loss of opportunities for 
intellectual activities in connection with the affairs of 
state, there was an increase of interest in purely intel- 
lectual pursuits along more scholastic lines. Hence it was 
that the decline in the character, motive, and moral results 
of education was coincident with a development of educa- 
tional institutions, the multiplication of libraries, and an 
increased attendance upon the higher schools. Now the 
pursuit of the intellectual life, or the scholastic ideals, 
became a type of life distinct in itself, resembhng more the 
Greek school of the philosophic period than any approved 
Roman customs. The decline in morality and spirit and 
purpose, marked by Juvenal and Tacitus, was followed in 



396 Source Book of the History of Education 

time by a decline in every other respect. With the Chris- 
tianization of the Empire and the invasion of the barba- 
rians, education, which had previously become wholly 
formal and artificial, ceased to arouse any enthusiasm and 
finally to command any support. This final stage of 
Roman education is not represented in these selections. 



Education 
by example, 
through the 
influence of 
the father. 



Selections from the Satires of Horace 

BOOK I. 4 (103-129) 

If my language is ever too free, too playful, such an 
amount of liberty you will grant me in your courtesy : for 
to this my good father trained me, to avoid each vice by 
setting a mark on it by examples. Whenever he would 
exhort me to live a thrifty, frugal life, contented with 
what he had saved for me, he would say, " Do you not see 
how hard it is for the son of Albius to live, and how needy 
Barrus is, a signal warning, to prevent any one from 
wasting his inheritance." If he would deter me from 
dishonourable love, he would say, " Do not be like Sec- 
tanus : " to save me from an adulterous passion, when I 
might enjoy an unforbidden love, he used to say, " Tre- 
bonius' exposure was not creditable. A philosopher will 
give you the right reasons for shunning or choosing things ; 
I am contented,^ if I can maintain the custom handed 
down from our ancestors, and, so long as you need a 
guardian, preserve your life and character from ruin ; when 
mature age has strengthened your body and soul, then you 
will swim without a cork." Thus he moulded my boyhood 
by these words, and if he advised me to any course of con- 
duct, he would say, " You have an authority for so acting," 
and put before me one of the select judges ; ^ or if he would 

1 The poet's father was of mean rank, and hence not acquainted with 
philosophical teachings. He was content to bring up his son according to 
the ideas of the earlier days. 

2 These judges were selected from the most distinguished men of the sena- 
torial or equestrian rank, in the city by the prsetors, in the province by the 
governors. 



The Hellenized Roma7t Education 397 

forbid me, then said he, " Can you possibly doubt, whether 
this is disreputable and injurious, when this man and that 
man are notorious for an evil report. As the funeral of a 
neighbour frightens to death the intemperate when sick, 
and, through dread of their own end, makes them careful, 
so minds still docile are often deterred from vice by the 
disgrace of others." 

I. 6 (65-88) 

And yet, if the faults and defects of my nature are a father's 
moderate ones, and with their exception my life is upright, care and 
(just as if one were to censure blemishes found here and ^^g" ^^ 
there on a handsome body,) if no one can truly lay to my education of 
charge avarice, meanness, or frequenting vicious haunts, ^is son. 
if (that I may praise myself) my life is pure and innocent, 
and my friends love me, I owe it all to my father ; he, 
though not rich, for his farm was a poor one, would not 
send me to the school of Flavins,^ to which the first youths 
of the town, the sons of the centurions, the great men 
there, used to go, with their bags^ and slates^ on their left 
arm, taking the teacher's fee on the Ides of eight months 
in the year ; but he had the spirit * to carry me, when a 
boy, to Rome, there to learn the liberal arts which any 
knight or senator would have his own sons taught. Had 
any one seen my dress, and the attendant servants, so far 
as would be observed in a populous city, he would have 
thought that such expense was defrayed from an old 
hereditary estate. He himself was ever present,^ a guar- 
dian incorruptible, at all my studies. Why say more .-* My 
modesty, that first grain of virtue, he preserved untainted, 
not only by an actual stain, but by the very rumour of it ; 

^ A schoolmaster at Venusia, the poet's native place. 

2 Bags of counters for arithmetical calculations, more frequently performed 
in this way than with characters as with us. 

2 Ciphering tables. These were covered with sand or dust, thus permitting 
characters to be made. 

* A bold proceeding for a poor farmer, when the rich centurions were con- 
tent with provincial schools. 

° Instead of assigning him, as was the custom, to the care of a pedagogue, 
usually a family slave. 



398 Source Book of the History of Education 

not fearing that any one hereafter should make this a 
reproach, if as auctioneer,^ or collector, like himself, I 
should follow a trade of petty gains ; nor should I have 
grumbled at my lot ; but as the case is now, to him more 
praise is due, I owe him greater thanks. 



Character of 

early 

education. 



Poetry the 
substance of 
early 
literary 
education. 



Selections from the Epistles of Horace 
II. I (70-75) 

When I was little,^ Orbilius, my master, dictated to me 
the poems of Livius ; ^ he was fond of flogging me, but I 
am not dead set against those poems, nor think they ought 
to be destroyed ; but that they should be considered 
faultless and beautiful and almost perfect, does aston- 
ish me. 

II. I (126-138) 

The tender lisping mouth of a child the poet forms; 
even in their early days he turns the ears of the young 
from evil words ; presently he fashions the heart by kindly 
precepts, he is the corrector of roughness, of malice, of 
anger ; he tells of virtuous deeds, the dawn of life he 
furnishes with illustrious examples ; the helpless and sad 
of soul he comforts. Whence could the pious boys and 
virgins learn their hymns of prayer, had not the Muse 
granted us a bard .-' The chorus prays for aid, and Heaven's 
presence feels, and in set form of persuasive prayer im- 
plores rain from above, averts disease, drives away dreaded 
dangers, obtains peace, and a season rich with its crops : 
appeased by hymns are gods above, and gods below. * 

^ The father of Horace became at Rome either a tax-gatherer or an officer 
attendant upon sales at auction, whose duty it was to collect the purchase 
money. 

2 Orbilius Puppillus, a native of Beneventum, came to teach at Rome in the 
consulship of Cicero. He was noted for his severity. 

" Livius Andronicus. 

* The poet in the passage is enumerating the advantages that result from 
his art. ! 



The Hellenized Roman Education 



399 



Selections from the Ars Poetica of Horace 



(323-333.) The Greeks had genius, the Greeks could 
speak with well-rounded mouth : this was the Muse's gift 
to them; they coveted nought but renown. But the Roman 
boys are taught to divide the as by long calculations into a 
hundred parts. Supposing the son of Albinus says : " If 
from five ounces be subtracted one, what is the remainder .-'" 
At once you can answer, " A third of an as." ^ " Good, you 
will be able to keep your property. If an ounce be added, 
what does it make .'' " " The half of an as." Ah! when 
this rust of copper, this slavish love of saving money has 
once imbued the soul, can we hope for the composition of 
verses worthy to be rubbed with oil of cedar, or to be kept 
in cases of polished cypress "i 



Materialistic 
ideals of 
later Roman 
education. 



Selections from the Epigrams of Martial 

I BOOK IX. LXVIII. TO THE MASTER OF A NOISY SCHOOL 

IN HIS NEIGHBOURHOOD 

i What right have you to disturb me, abominable school- 
i master, object abhorred ahke by boys and girls .-' Before 
I the crested cocks have broken silence, you begin to roar 
: out your savage scoldings and blows. Not with louder 
j noise does the metal resound on the struck anvil, when 
! the workman is fitting a lawyer on his horse ; ^ nor is the 
j noise so great in the large amphitheatre, when the con- 
I quering gladiator is applauded by his partisans. We, 
I your neighbours, do not ask you to allow us to sleep for 
j the whole night, for it is but a small matter to be occasion- 
I ally awakened ; but to be kept awake all night is a heavy 
affliction. Dismiss your scholars, brawler, and take as 
much for keeping quiet as you receive for making a noise. 



1 Originally a pound of copper, of the value of l6| cents. 
Roman unit of monetary value. 

* A sneer at the equestrian statues of lawyers. 



It was the 



400 Source Book of the History of Education 

BOOK X. LXII. TO A SCHOOLMASTER 

Schoolmaster, be indulgent to your simple scholars ; if 
you would have many a long-haired youth resort to your 
lectures, and the class seated round your critical table love 
you. So may no teacher of arithmetic, or of swift writing, 
be surrounded by a greater ring of pupils. The days are 
bright, and glow under the flaming constellation of the 
Lion, and fervid July is ripening the teeming harvest. 
Let the Scythian scourge with its formidable thongs, such 
as flogged Marsyas of Celaenae,^ and the terrible cane, the 
schoolmaster's sceptre, be laid aside, and sleep until the 
Ides of October.^ In summer, if boys preserve their 
health, they do enough. 



Method of 
education by 
direct 
imitation. 



Selection from the Epistles of Seneca 

Epistles xciv. 51 

He must therefore be governed till he begin to be able 
to govern himself. Children are taught to form their 
letters, their fingers are held and their hands directed and 
led, to teach them to fashion and counterfeit letters ; then 
are they commanded to follow such and such examples, 
and by them to remodel their writings. So is our mind 
strengthened, if it be instructed by setting up some exam- 
ple after which it may pattern. 



Selection from the Lives of the First Twelve Ccesars, by 
C. Suetonius Tranquillus 



First 
imperial 
support of 
public 
education. 



LIFE OF VESPASIAN 

XVIII. Hewasagreat encouragerof learning and learned 
men. He first appointed the Latin and Greek professors of 
rhetoric the yearly stipend of a hundred thousand sesterces^ 

^ Reference to a legend concerning a Phrygian god, of the river Marsyas. 
Becoming skilful upon the flute, Marsyas challenged Apollo, god of the lyre, to 
a contest. The Muses declared Marsyas vanquished, and the gods flayed him. 

* The usual time for the opening of the school term. 

• At this time a sestertius was worth about five cents of our money. 



The Hellenized Roman Education 



401 



each out of the exchequer. He was likewise extremely gen- 
erous to such as excelled in poetry, or even the mechanic 
arts, and particularly to one that brushed up the picture of 
Venus at Cos, and another who repaired the Colossus. A 
mechanic offering to convey some huge pillars into the 
Capitol at a small expense, he rewarded him very hand- 
somely for his invention, but would not accept of his ser- 
vice, saying, " You must allow me to take care of the poor 
people." 



Selections from Muso7iius} on the Education of Women 

XIX. The conversation having turned on the question 
whether people's sons and daughters should receive the 
same education, the philosopher (after referring to the an- 
alogy furnished by the identical training received by both 
the males and the females of two of the species of animals 
employed by men to render them active service, horses and 
dogs) asks whether men ought to receive any special educa- 
tion and training superior to those allowed to women, as if 
both alike should not acquire the same virtues, or if it is pos- 
sible for the two sexes to attain to the same virtues otherwise 
than by the same education. But it is easy to learn that a 
man has not different virtues from a woman. For, first, 
the one should have good sense as well as the other ; for 
of what use would either a foolish man or a foolish woman 
be ? Then the man could not be a good citizen if he were 
unjust. And the woman could not carry on the concerns 
of the household virtuously if not being just, but the con- 
trary, she should first wrong her husband, as they say 
Eriphyle^ did. It is also good that the woman as well as 
the man should be self-controlled. . . . Perhaps some one 
would say that courage is a quality befitting men alone ; 
but even this is not so, for the best woman also should be 

1 I am indebted to Professor Laurie's Historical Survey of Pre- Christian 
Education for this reference. The translation is by Professor Muir of the 
University of Edinburgh. 

2 Of Greek mythology. Bribed by the gift of a necklace, she persuaded 
her husband to take part in the war of the Seven against Thebes, in which he 
lost his Hfe. In revenge for this, she was slain by her son. 

2D 



Should 
women have 
the same 
education 
as men? 



The same 
virtues are 
required of 
each. 



402 Source Book of the History of Education 



Then the 
same 
education 
must be 
suitable to 
both. 



Each should 
have tasks 
suited to his 
nature. 



courageous, and be free from weakness, so that she may 
not be overcome either by toil or by fear. Otherwise how 
can she continue virtuous, if any one either by terror or by 
imposing toil can force her to submit to anything disgrace- 
ful } Women ought also to repel assaults, for if not they 
will show themselves weaker than hens, and the females 
of other birds, which fight for their young against animals 
much bigger than themselves. How, then, should woman 
not stand in need of courage .-' And that they share a cer- 
tain martial vigour was proved by the race of the Amazons, 
who subdued many nations by force of arms. So that if 
other women are deficient in courage, this must be laid to 
the account of want of training rather than to (weakness 
of) nature. If, then, the same virtues must pertain to 
men and women, it follows necessarily that the same train- 
ing and education must be suitable for both. For in the 
case of all animals and plants, the application of the 
proper treatment ought to impart to each the excellence 
belonging to it. Or, if both men and women should have 
to possess equal skill in playing the flute, or in performing 
on the harp, and if this were necessary for their livelihood, 
we should impart to both equally the requisite instruction. 
But if both ought to exxel in the virtue proper to mankind, 
and to be in an equal measure wise and temperate, and to 
partake in courage and righteousness the one no less than 
the other, shall we not educate them both in the same 
manner, and teach both equally the art by which a human 
being may become good .-* Yes, we must act thus and no 
otherwise. What then } Some one will perhaps say, 
Would you think it right to teach men to spin wool just 
as you do women .-' and women equally with men to 
addict themselves to gymnastic exercises .-' No, this I 
will never approve. But I say that as in the human 
race men have a stronger and women a weaker nature, 
each of these natures should have the tasks which are 
most suited to it, assigned to it, and that the heavier should 
be allotted to the stronger, and the lighter to the weaker. 
Spinning, as well as housekeeping, would therefore be 
more suitable for women than for men, while gymnastics, 
as well as out of door work, would be fitter for men than 
for women : though sometimes some men might properly 



The Hellenized Roman Education 403 



undertake some of the lighter tasks and such as seem to 
belong to women ; and women again might engage in the 
harder tasks, and those which appear more appropriate for 
men, in cases where either bodily qualities, or necessity, or 
particular occasions, might lead to such action. For per- 
haps all human tasks are open to all, and common both to 
men and women, and nothing is necessarily appointed ex- 
clusively for either ; not that some things may not be more 
suitable for the one, and others for the other nature ; so 
that some are called men's and others women's occupa- 
tions. But whatever things have reference to virtue, these 
one may rightly affirm to be equally appropriate for both 
natures, since we say that virtues do not belong more to 
the one than to the other. Wherefore I think it is rea- 
sonable that both males and females should be similarly 
instructed in matters relating to virtue ; and they should 
be taught from their infancy that such and such a thing is 
good, and such and such a thing is bad (the same thing 
bad for both) and that one thing is profitable and another 
injurious, and that this is to be done and that not ; from 
which wisdom is acquired by those who learn, by boys and 
girls equally, and in no way differently by each ; then they 
are to be inspired with a feeling of shame in regard to 
everything base. These qualities being implanted in them, 
it necessarily follows that both men and women will be- 
come virtuous. And those who are rightly instructed, 
whether males or females, are to be accustomed to endure 
toil, not to fear death, not to be crushed by any calamity, 
so that they may become courageous (or manly) ; for it has 
been shown above that women too should partake in the 
character of courage (or manliness). Then again, it is an 
excellent thing to teach them to avoid selfishness and to 
honour equality, and, as human beings, to seek to benefit 
and not to injure mankind; and such instruction renders 
those who receive it just. But why should a man learn 
these things more than a woman .'' For if it is fitting that 
women should be just, then both sexes should be taught 
these things which are most seasonable and most impor- 
tant. For if the man should know some little matter con- 
nected with some artist's department, and the woman not, 
or conversely, this will not prove the education of each to 



Hence 
women 
should have 
the lighter 
tasks. 



But the 
virtues be- 
long equally 
to both. 



Early 
education 
should be 
the same for 
both. 



404 Source Book of the History of Education 



Should be 

chiefly 

moral. 



Have the 
same rea- 
son; hence 
women 
should study 
philosophy. 



Practical 
aspect of 
the philo- 
sophical 
education. 



be different. Only, as regards any of the most important 
matters let not the one be taught differently from the other. 
If anyone asks me what science is to preside over this in- 
struction I shall reply that as without philosophy no man 
can be rightly instructed, so neither can any woman. But 
I do not mean to say that if women are to philosophise 
they ought properly to possess fluency and extraordinary 
cleverness in discussion ; for I do not praise this very 
much even in men ; but I mean that women should acquire 
a virtuous character and nobleness, since philosophy is the 
pursuit of a noble character, and nothing else. 

. . . And when one asked him if women too should 
study philosophy, he began, somewhat in this way, to 
teach that they should. Women, he said, have received 
from the gods the same reason as men, the reason which 
we use in dealing with each other, and by which we dis- 
cern, in regard to each act, whether it is good or bad, noble 
or base. So, too, the female has the same perceptions as 
the male — seeing, hearing, smelling, and so forth. . . . 
So, too, not only men, but women also, have by nature the 
desire and the adaptation for virtue ; for the latter, no less 
than the former, are so formed as to be pleased with noble 
and righteous actions and to disapprove the contraries of 
these. This being the case, why should it belong to men 
principally to inquire and consider how they shall live 
nobly — which is the province of philosophy — and not 
principally to women.'' Is it because it is fitting for men 
to be good, and not for women } But let us inquire in 
regard to every particular quality suitable for a woman who 
shall be good; for it will appear that she will derive each 
of these characteristics principally from philosophy. First, 
a woman ought to be a good housekeeper, and capable of 
judging what things are expedient for the house, and quali- 
fied to rule the domestics. Now, I say that such qualities 
would belong most to a woman who studied philosophy, 
since each of these things is a part of life, and the science 
of matters regarding life is nothing else than philosophy, 
and the philosopher, as Socrates said, continues inquiring 
"vt^hat things, good or bad, are done in the house." But 
the woman should further be self-controlled, so as to keep 
herself pure . . . not to be the slave of desires, nor 



The Helleiiized Roman Educatioit 



405 



quarrelsome, nor extravagant, nor fond of dress. These 
are the works of a vh-tuous woman ; and, in addition, she 
should control anger, not give way to grief, be superior to 
all passion. These things philosophy enjoins, and it ap- 
pears to me that anyone, whether man or woman, who 
should learn and practise them, would be a most correct 
person. What then } These things are so. Is not, there- 
fore, a woman justified in studying philosophy, in being a 
blameless partner of (her husband's) life, a good helpmeet in 
housekeeping, a careful guardian of her husband and chil- 
dren, and in every way free from the love of gain and from 
selfishness } And what woman would possess this char- 
acter more than the student of philosophy, who would be 
bound, if philosophy is uniform (.^ in its effects) to esteem 
the doing worse than the suffering of injustice — insomuch 
as it is more disgraceful — and to regard being worsted as 
better than gaining an advantage, and to love her children 
more than (her own) life .'' And what woman would be 
juster than she who possessed such a character .'' And it 
befits the educated woman to be more courageous than the 
uneducated, and the student of philosophy than she who is 
untrained in it, so that she would neither submit to any- 
thing disgraceful from the fear of death, or through shrink- 
ing from toil, nor succumb to anyone because he was well 
born, or powerful, or rich, or even a tyrant. For it is her 
fortune to have studied to be high-minded, and to regard 
death as not an evil, and life as not a good, and similarly 
not to turn away from toil, or at all to indulge in indolence. 
Whence it is to be expected that such a woman would work 
with her own hands, and submit to toil, should be able her- 
self to suckle the infants to whom she gave birth, and 
minister to her husband with her own hands, and fulfil 
without reluctance tasks which some consider as work only 
fit for slaves. Would not, now, such a woman be a great 
treasure for her husband, an ornament to her relatives, 
and a good example to those of her own sex who knew her .-' 
But some will say that the women who visit philosophers 
must generally become bold and presuming when, leaving 
their household occupations, they live surrounded by men, 
and practise discussions, and argue subtly, and analyse 
syllogisms, while they ought to be sitting at home spinning. 



The higher 
aspects of 
the philo- 
sophical 
education. 



Such 

education 
does not 
destroy 
woman- 
hood. 



4o6 Source Book of the History of Education 



Depends 
upon the 
kind of 
philosophy. 



But I am so far from approving of women who are study- 
ing philosophy leaving their proper avocations and devot- 
ing themselves solely to discussions, that I should not even 
think it fit for men to do this. But I say that they ought 
to engage in all the reasonings with which they occupy 
themselves for the sake of their avocations. For as medi- 
cal speculations are useless unless they conduce to the 
health of the human body, so if a philosopher holds or 
inculcates any doctrine, it is of no value unless it promote 
the virtue of the human soul. But, above all things, we 
ought to weigh the principles which we think that women 
studying philosophy should follow, so as to form a judg- 
ment whether the doctrine that teaches that modesty is the 
greatest good can make women bold, or whether that 
which inculcates the greatest composure can accustom 
them to live recklessly (or impudently), or that which 
shows vice to be the greatest evil does not teach virtuous 
self-restraint, or that which represents housekeeping as 
a virtue, and exhorts a woman to be satisfied with it and 
to work with her own hands, does not dispose a woman 
to practise household occupations. 



Selections from the Epistles of Pliny the Younger 



The occasion 
for the 
letter. 



BOOK I., EPISTLE VIII. TO POMPEIUS SATURNINUS 

Your letters, in which you importuned me to send some 
of my writings to you, came very seasonably. For, I was 
just then fully determined in that point : ^ you have there- 
fore given the spur to a very willing racer, and have at 
once saved yourself the excuse of refusing such a trouble, 
and me the awkward bashfulness of asking it. I think, 
I may now confidently use the offer, that is made me ; 
neither can you for shame shrink back from your own 
proposal : however expect not anything new from a man 
so indolent as I am. What I am going to ask you, is to 
pass your judgment once more upon that speech, which 
I made to my fellow-citizens, when I dedicated a public 

^ Pliny made a practice of securing the critical examination of each piece 
of literary work by his friends before its publication. 



The Hellenized Roman Education 407 

library to their use.^ I remember, you then gave me some 
criticisms upon it in general ; but my present request is, 
that you would not only give a strict attention to the whole, 
but that you will not let a single syllable escape your most 
minute correction ; for even after your emendations, I 
shall still be at liberty, either to publish, or suppress. 
However, your corrections may possibly determine me ; 
and your pen, by frequently going over the work, may 
either find it unworthy and unfit for the public, or, by the 
same means, give it another turn, and make it fit to appear. 
But I must own, that the motives of my delays and appre- its 
hensions arise not so much from the speech itself, as from educational 
the subject of it; for certainly it is too full of vanity; foundTiTt'he 
because I must inevitably wound my modesty (be my private 
expressions never so condescending and humble) when I foundation 
am obHged to set forth, not only the munificence of my ^b^ary. ^^ 
ancestors, but my own generosity also. The path is dan- 
gerous and slippery, even although a man were seduced 
into it by the most urging necessity. For, if an unwilling 
ear is lent to the praises we bestow upon others, how 
much more difificult will it be to obtain a patient hearing, 
when our whole discourse is about ourselves and our rela- 
tions } If virtue, when naked, is envied, it will be more 
so, when set off in any ostentatious manner. In short, 
good deeds can only escape censure, by being buried 
in obscurity and silence. For which reason, I have often 
asked my own conscience. Is this composition of mine 
merely for my own vanity ; or is it not as much for the 
use of the public in general, as for myself .'' ^ 

Another reflection, that occurs to me, is, that many 
things, which are necessary whilst we are performing an 

1 The occasion spoken of gives the educational significance of the letter. 
Pliny had given to the people of Comum, his native city, a public library, 
which was to be open at all times to all classes. The gift was accom- 
panied by a speech setting forth the advantages to be gained from the use of 
a library. It is to this speech that the letter refers. 

2 The modesty of the letter is supported by his calling his generosity an 
imitation of his ancestors, though this is hardly a Roman custom; and by the 
character of the presentation speech at the time of the gift, being made, as it 
was, to the decurions alone. 



4o8 Source Book of the History of Education 



Its chief 
topic the 
character 
of true 
generosity. 



The founda- 
tion of 
scholarships 
replaces 
public games 
and shows. 



action, must lose their usefulness and their grace, the 
moment that action is performed. And not to go farther 
for examples, what could be more useful than to explain 
the grounds and motives of my liberality, and even to make 
it the subject of a discourse } From whence these ad- 
vantages resulted ; first our attention was for some time 
engaged in a series of virtuous and liberal thoughts ; and 
then again, by dwelling long upon them, we became thor- 
oughly acquainted with their beauties ; and lastly, we 
were secured from the uneasiness of that repentance, which 
is the certain consequence of a rash and overhasty munifi- 
cence. Hence too we were in a manner brought to a 
habit of despising money ; for as nature has instilled into 
all men a desire of keeping what they have, we, whose 
love of liberality proceeded from having long and well 
weighed that virtue in the equal balance of judgment and 
reflection, released ourselves from those chains, common 
as they are to the rest of mankind ; and our generosity 
was likely to appear the more to our honour, as it was the 
effect of reason, and not the saUies of whim and passion. 
To these arguments may be farther added, that I did not 
exhibit games or gladiators ; ^ but, in their stead, established 
an annual income for the maintenance of young persons 
of good families and small fortunes. Pleasures, that are 
merely for the entertainment of the eyes and ears, are so 
far from wanting commendation, that they ought rather 
to be restrained than to be encouraged by public speeches. 
To induce a man to undergo the irksomeness and fatigue 
of education, not only gifts, but the most enticing eloquence \ 
is necessary : for if physicians, by kind and gentle language, 
persuade their patients to swallow down their nauseous, I 
yet wholesome medicines ; how much more ought a true ' 
lover of the public, to use all the soft bewitching arts of 
oratory, when he exhibits an entertainment not so accept- 
able as useful to the people.'* especially, when it was my 
business to endeavour, that what was given to those, who 



^ On all such public occasions it was customary to institute games and 
exhibit shows in order to increase the solemnity of the public benefaction. 
Pliny departed from this custom anrl devoted the money as above indicated, 
thus giving the second edui.-ational significance to this letter. 



The Hellenized Roman Education 409 

had children, should be approved of by those, who had 
none ; and that the many others, who must be excluded 
from an honour, which could be enjoyed only by few, should 
patiently wait in expectation of that honour, and try to 
deserve it. 

But, as at the time I spoke this speech, I studied more 
the public advantage, than my own private reputation, in 
showing how desirous I was, that the full intention and 
design of my benefaction should be thoroughly understood 
and take effect accordingly ; so now I am afraid, by send- 
ing it into the world, I shall appear to have my own glory 
more in view, than any advantage that can accrue to other 
people. Besides all this, I cannot forget, that the con- 
sciousness of virtue gives more real pleasure, than the fame 
of it. 

Glory should follow, not be pursued : and though merit 
may not always be crowned with glory, her charms are not 
the less from that misfortune. But the persons, who do 
public benefits, and afterwards set them off by public 
speeches, seem to have done them, that they might be 
spoken of, not to speak of them, because they had been 
done. By which means a performance, that might appear 
highly magnificent, when related by another, vanishes to 
nothing, when set forth by the author himself. For when 
people cannot destroy the action, they immediately attack 
the vanity of it : so that if you do a thing, that ought to be 
concealed, the action is blamed ; and if you do a thing, 
that ought to be praised, you are blamed for not conceal- 
ing it. 

There is yet another very particular reason, which de- 
ters me from making this oration public : for I did not 
speak it to the people, but I spoke it to the Decurions,^ 
nor to them openly, and in the sight of the world, but pri- 
vately in their own court.^ I fear therefore it will seem 

J Senators of the corporate cities of Italy. They had a share in the elec- 
tion of Roman magistrates, and thus these cities participated in the govern- 
ment of the Republic and Empire. Comum had been made a Roman colony 
by Scipio. 

2 As Pliny's bounty has been intended for the pubHc benefit, it was neces- 
sary fojr him to register the act before the decurions. 



4IO Source Book of the History of Education 

inconsistent, that at the time I spoke it I should fly from 
the applauses and acclamations of the multitude, and 
should now run after those applauses and acclamations by 
publishing the work : and that I should then keep out the 
people, for whom it was designed, even from the walls of 
the court, merely to avoid the least show of ambition, and 
should now, as it were by a voluntary piece of ostentation, 
try to gain those very people, who can really reap no other 
benefit from my gift, than what may arise from the exam- 
ple of it. 

You are now told the causes of my delay : however, I 
will follow your advice, be it what it will ; and your author- 
ity shall be a sufficient reason for my actions. Farewell. 



BOOK III., EPISTLE III. TO CORRELLIA HISPULLA 

On the It is not easy to determine whether my love or esteem 

selection of were greater, for that wise and excellent man your father, 
while from the respect I bear to his memory and your virtues, 
you are exceedingly dear to me. Can I fail then to wish 
(as I shall, by every means in my power, endeavour) that 
your son may resemble his grandfather .-' Myself, I should 
prefer his being Hke his grandfather on the mother's side, 
though the one on the father's as well was a man of mark 
and worth, his father and his uncle too will furnish him 
with illustrious examples. Now the surest way of training 
him up in the steps of such men is to give him a good, 
sound, liberal education, and it is of the utmost importance 
from whom he receives this. Hitherto, owing to his early 
years, he has been brought up under your eye, and in your 
house, where he is exposed to few, I should rather say to 
no, wrong impressions. But he is now of an age to be 
sent from home, and it is time to place him with some pro- 
fessor of rhetoric; of whose discipline and method, modesty, 
but, above all, purity and uprightness, you may be well 
satisfied. Amongst the many advantages for which our 
young man is indebted to nature and fortune, he has that 
of a most beautiful person : it is necessary therefore, in 
this loose and sHppery age, to find out one who will not 
only be his tutor, but guardian and governor as well. I 



a teacher. 



The Hellejiized Roman Education 411 

will venture to recpmmend Julius Genitor to you under that 
character. I am fond of him, it is true : but my affection 
by no means prejudices my judgment ; on the contrary, it 
is, actually, the effect of it. His behaviour is grave, and 
his morals are irreproachable ; perhaps somewhat too 
severe and rigid for the libertine manners of these times. 
His professional qualifications you may learn from many 
others, for the gift of eloquence, as it is open to all the 
world, is soon perceived : but the qualities of the heart lie 
in deeper recesses, more out of the reach of common ob- 
servation ; and it is on tJiat side I undertake to answer for 
my friend. Your son will hear nothing from this worthy 
man but what will be to his advantage to know, nor will he 
learn anything of which it would be better he were igno- 
rant. He will remind him as often, and with as much zeal 
as you or I should, of the virtues of his ancestors, and 
what a glorious weight of illustrious characters he has to 
support. You will not hesitate then to place him with a 
tutor whose first care will be to form his morals and after 
that to instruct him in eloquence ; an attainment ill acquired 
if to the neglect of his moral culture. Farewell. 

BOOK IV., EPISTLE XIII. TO CORNELIUS TACITUS ^ 

I am extremely glad to hear you are come safe to town. 
Your arrival, though always desirable, is at this time more 
particularly welcome. I shall still stay some few days in 
Tusculum, that I may finish a small work which I have in 
hand ; for I am afraid, if I should now break off my pur- 
suit, just when I have brought it near an end, I should find 
a difficulty in taking it up again. In the mean while, that 
I may lose no time, I write this precursory letter, to inti- 
mate a request, which I must urge personally when we 
meet. But first hear the reason of my asking, and then 
what it is I ask. 

When I was last in my own country ,2 a son of one of my 
fellow-citizens came to see me. I asked him, " Do you 

1 The historian; a contemporary of Pliny. The exact date of his birth is 
unknown, though he was a few days older than Pliny, who was born 6l A.D. 
^ Comum. 



4 1 2 Source Book of the History of Education 



Local 

schools to be 
supported 
by endow- 
ments from 
private 
benefactions 
instead of 
by tuition 
alone. 



Study?" He answered: "Yes." "Where.?" " At Medi- 
olanum." ^ " Why not here .'' " To which his father an- 
swered (for his father was with him, and had introduced 
the youth to me), " Because we have no preceptors here."^ 
" Why have you not ? for it much concerns you who are 
fathers " (and many parents happened luckily to be pres- 
ent), " to have your sons educated here, preferably to any 
other place. For where can they reside more to their sat- 
isfaction, than in their native country .-' Where can they 
be bred up more virtuously, than under the eye of their 
parents ? or with less expense, than at home .-' Upon what 
easy conditions might you have preceptors brought hither .-*- 
What a small additional expense must you be at, abovCj 
what it already costs you in your children's lodgings, diet,] 
and other necessaries, which are now all bought abroad .-* 
For my part, I, who have no children, but consider my 
country as my child or my parent, am ready to contribute 
a third part of the sum, which you shall think proper to 
establish upon this occasion. I would even promise to be at 
the whole expense, did I not fear that such a donation might 
be corrupted, and made to serve private interests : Which I 
see happen in many places, where preceptors are chosen 
by the public. There is but this one remedy to obviate 
the evil. If the right of choice be left entirely to the par- 
ents, their care, in that choice, will be still augmented, by 
the necessity they are under of contributing towards it : 
For those, who perhaps would be negligent in other peo- 
ple's expenses, will certainly be careful in their own : and 
will use their utmost endeavours, that the person, who is to 
receive his salary from me, shall be worthy of it, because 
their own share is likewise to be paid. Therefore consult, 
and come to some determination among yourselves, and 
let my example inspire you, and be assured, that the larger 
my part of the contribution shall be, the better I shall be 
pleased. You can do nothing more honourable for your 



1 Milan. 

^ The custom of giving imperial support to provincial schools did not grow 
up until late in the second Christian century, under the Antonines. At the 
time of Pliny (iiOA.D.) such schools were supported either by the munici- 
pality or by tuition. Municipal support, however, was not common. 



The Hellenized Roman Education 413 

children ; nothing more grateful to your country. Let 
those, who are born here, be educated here ; that from their 
infancy they may love their native soil, by living on it. 
And I wish you could draw hither such eminent masters, 
as should make the studies here sought after by neighbour- 
ing cities ; so that, as your children are now sent to other 
places, other people's children may, hereafter, resort to 
this." 

I thought it necessary to repeat this conversation circum- Public inter- 
stantially, and from the beginning ; that you may the bet- est to be 
ter judge how grateful it would be to me, if you will ^''*^^5^"- 
undertake what I enjoin. For the importance of the 
affair makes me both enjoin, and entreat you, that out of 
the numerous concourse of learned men, who assemble 
about you, from an admiration of your great abilities, you 
would look out some masters worth soliciting : With this choice of 
reserve however, that I shall not be tied down to any par- teachers, 
ticular man : for I leave the parents at full liberty : let 
them judge ; let them choose ; I lay claim to nothing but 
the care and expense. Therefore if one should be found, 
who relies on his own genius, sufficiently for the task, let 
him go thither, under this restriction, that he builds upon 
no certainty, but his own abilities. Farewell. 

BOOK VII., EPISTLE IX. TO CORNELIUS FUSCUS 

You wish to know from me, in what method you ought Approved 
to pursue your studies, while you remain, as you have long methods of 
been, retired in the country. The most useful method, and ediufaUon. 
as many think, the most preferable, is translation either 
from Greek into Latin, or from Latin into Greek. By this 
kind of exercise are to be acquired the propriety and 
beauty of expression, the extent of figures, the power of 
explanation, besides a facility of imitating the best authors, 
so as to fall into the same turn of thought. Those circum- 
stances, which may not strike a reader, cannot possibly 
escape a translator. Knowledge and judgment are both 
acquired by translation. As soon as you have read a book, 
by way of emulation, you may undertake the same argument, 
and subject matter; comparing and carefully weighing 
your own performance with the book, which you have read : 



414 Source Book of the History of Education 



Oratory not 
the sole aim 
of education. 



from hence you will find out in each the several superiori- 
ties. It will be great honour to you, if sometimes the advan- 
tage appears on your side : It will be great shame, if you 
are always inferior. It may be proper for you now and 
then, both to choose out the most distinguished parts, and 
to vie with those particular passages when chosen ; such 
a contest is rather bold than rash, because it is secret. Al- 
though, in this sort of race, I have seen many persons 
acquire great applause, by out-running such authors, whom 
they thought it would have been sufficient honour to have 
followed. 

After your work has lain by long enough to be out of 
your memory, you should review the whole ; should retain 
many things, throw away more ; interline some, write 
others over again. This is an irksome and laborious task, 
but the difficulty is productive of good consequences ; as 
by it you grow warm afresh, and resume a strength, which 
had been broken, and was become languid. Lastly, you 
add, as it were, new limbs to a body already well consti- 
tuted, without molesting those of the original formation. 

I know your principal study at present is oratory ; but I 
am far from persuading you to be perpetually pursuing 
that controversial, and, if I may say so, that wariike style : 
for, as our lands are sowed with variety of seeds, and those 1 
seeds are often changed ; so our minds must be employed, 
sometimes in one, then in another kind of application. I 
am desirous, that you should comment upon remarkable 
points of history : I am desirous, that you should be particu- 
larly careful in writing letters. I am desirous, that you 
should make verses ; because, in speeches, an absolute ne- 
cessity often happens for description, not only in an histori- 
cal, but in a poetical manner. A closer and more delicate 
vein is adapted to epistles. You should sometimes refresh 
yourself with poetry. I do not say, that such an exercise 
should be constant, or that your poems should be long 
(those circumstances can only be the effect of leisure), but 
rather witty, and short, fit interludes between all kinds of 
care and business. Such poems are called amusements ; 
but they often produce as great a share of reputation, as 
more serious performances. And therefore, why should I 
not tempt you to versification, by verses themselves ? 



The Hellenized Roman Education 



415 



I 

When yielding wax, with pressure warm, 

The artist's hand receives, 
Each new creation taices its form, 

And every figure lives : 



II 



Mars seems to knit his warlike brow; 

Minerva seems to move ; 
Here, Cupid bends his magic bow ; 

There, smiles the queen of love. 



Ill 

As bursting flames are taught to know 

The force of water's power ; 
As currents, when through meads they flow, 

Refresh each field and flower. 



IV 

So shall the mind, by art impressed, 
Like wax, new forms impart. 

Or stand like torrent's force confessed, 
Or flow from art to art. 



In this manner the greatest orators, and even the great- Value of 
est men, have exercised or amused themselves. Indeed it versifying as 
is wonderful, how much the mind is displayed, and de- ^ n^^tnod. 
lighted by those trifling performances. For they admit 
of love, hatred, anger, pity, mirth, in a word, all circum- 
stances that pass in life ; even the business in the forum, 
and the causes at the bar. In such sort of verses we find 
also the same usefulness as in all other poetry : we take 
pleasure in the freedom of a prose oration, as soon as we 
are loosed from the chains of metre. Comparison shows 
us, which is the easiest, and there we write with the 
greater willingness. I have now sent you more particu- 
lars than you desired ; but there is still one point, which I 
have omitted. I have not told you what books you ought As to 
to read, although perhaps I expressed my meaning, by reading, 
telling you what you ought to write. You will remember ^^^ ^^^ ' 
to choose the best authors of every kind. The saying books. 



41 6 Source Book of the History of Education 

runs, We should read much, not many books. Who those 
authors are, is a point too well known, and too universally 
proved, to need any particular description : and besides, I 
have stretched out my letter so immoderately, that while 
I am persuading you in what manner to study, I am break- 
ing in upon your time of studying. However, resume 
your table-books, and either write upon the subjects, which 
I have mentioned, or continue the particular work you had 
begun. Adieu. 



Formal 
character of 
the work of 
the schools 
of the 
rhetors. 



Selection from Satire VII} offuvenal 

. . . Do you teach declamation .'' ^ Oh what a heart of 
steel must Vectius have, when his numerous class kills 
cruel tyrants ! ^ For all that the boy has just conned over 
at his seat, he will then stand up and spout — the same 
stale theme in the same sing-song. It is the reproduction 
of the cabbage * that wears out the master's life. What is 
the plea to be urged : what the character of the cause ; 
where the main point of the case hinges ; what shafts may 
issue from the opposing party ; — this all are anxious to 
know ; but not one is anxious to pay ! " Pay do you ask 
for.-* why, what do I know.?"^ The blame, forsooth, is 
laid at the teacher's door, because there is not a spark of 
energy in the breast of this scion of Arcadia,^ who dins his 
awful Hannibal into my ears regularly every sixth day.'^ 

1 This satire gives an account of the general discouragement under which 
literature labored at Rome. This is shown in regard to the various depart- 
ments of learning; those discussed previous to the selection given are history, 
law, and oratory. In the passages given the author shows that even worse 
conditions exist for the teachers of rhetoric and of grammar. 

2 This was the chief work of the rhetorical schools. 
8 The theme given by Vectius, who stands for any teacher of rhetoric, is 

supposed to be on the suppression of tyrants. 

* Refers to the old Greek proverb, " Cabbage heated several times is 
death," a progenitor of the modern jokes concerning hash. 

^ These are the words of the dull and inattentive scholar to his master. 

^ The Arcadians were proverbially stupid. 

■^ The adventures of Hannibal formed a most common theme in the Roman 
schools. 



The Hellenized Roman Education 417 

Whatever the theme be that is to be the subject of his 
dehberation ; whether he shall march at once from Can- 
nse on Rome ; or whether, rendered circumspect after 
the storms and thunderbolts, he shall lead his cohorts, 
drenched with the tempest, by a circuitous route. ^ Bar- 
gain for any sum you please, and I will at once place it in 
your hands, on condition that his father should hear him 
his lesson as often as I have to do it ! But six or more 
sophists 2 are all giving tongue at once ; and, debating in 
good earnest, have abandoned all fictitious declamations 
about the ravisher.^ No more is heard of the poison 
infused,^ or the vile ungrateful husband,^ or the drugs 
that can restore the aged bhnd to youth.^ He therefore 
that quits the shadowy conflicts of rhetoric for the arena 
of real debate,''' will superannuate himself, if my advice 
has any weight with him, and enter on a different path of 
life ; that he may not lose even the paltry sum that will 
purchase that miserable ticket for corn.^ Since this is 
the most splendid reward you can expect. Just inquire 
what Chrysogonus receives, or Pollio,^ for teaching the 
sons of these fine gentlemen, and going into all the details 
of Theodorus' ^^ treatise. 

1 When Hannibal had encamped within three miles of Rome, he was twice 
assailed by violent storms, at times when both armies were prepared for battle. 
This was considered an unfavorable omen, and the Carthaginians withdrew 
from Rome. 

2 Rhetors. 

' These references are all to fictitious subjects of debates in these schools. 
This refers to the rape of Helen. 

* Refers to Medea, of Grecian mythology, celebrated for her skill in magic. 
The instance referred to is her murder of the daughter of Creon, the king of 
Corinth, for whom Jason, Medea's husband, had deserted her. 

^ ^neas, v/ho abandoned Dido. 

* The question for debate was, what drugs restored sight and youth to 
./Eson. 

^ To practice in the law courts. 

* The poorer Romans received every month tickets, entitling them to cer- 
tain quantities of corn from the public granaries, either free or at least at a 
lower than market price. 

' Rhetorical teachers. 
^^ A famous rhetorician. 



41 8 Source Book of the History of Education 

Little atten- The baths will cost six hundred sestertia, and the colon- 
tion paid to nade still more, in which the great man rides whenever it 
by^tlTe^"" rains. Is he to wait, forsooth, for fair weather ? or bespat- 
wealthy. ter his horses with fresh mud ? Nay, far better here ! for 
here the mule's hoof shines unsullied. On the other side 
must rise a spacious dining-room, supported on stately 
columns of Numidian marble, and catch the cool sun. 
However much the house may have cost, he will have 
besides an artiste who can arrange his table scientifically ; 
another, who can season made-dishes. Yet amid all this 
lavish expenditure, two poor sestertia will be deemed an 
ample remuneration for Quintilian. Nothing will cost a 
father less than his son's education. 
Teachers " Then where did Quintilian get the money to pay for 

receive little SO many estates .'' " Pass by the instances of good fortune ; 
esteem and ^j^g^^ ^^Q. but rare indeed. It is good luck that makes a | 
man handsome and active; good luck that makes him 
wise, and noble, and well-bred, and attaches the crescent 
of the senator to his black shoe.^ Good luck too that 
makes him the best of orators and debaters, and, though 
he has a vile cold, sing well ! For it makes all the differ- 
ence what planets welcome you when you first begin to 
utter your infant cry, and are still red from your mother. 
If fortune so wills it, you will become consul instead of i 
rhetorician ; or, if she will, instead of rhetorician, consul ! f 
What was Ventidius ^ or Tullius ^ aught else than a lucky 
planet, and the strange potency of hidden fate .'' Fate, 
that gives kingdoms to slaves, and triumphs to captives. 
Yes ! Quintihan was indeed lucky, but he is a greater 
rarity even than a white crow. But many a man has 
repented of this fruitless and barren employment, as the 
sad end of Thrasymachus * proves, and that of Secundus 

^ The senators and patricians wore a black shoe of the finest leather, 
fastened by a silver or ivory clasp of crescent shape. This is supposed to have 
indicated the original number of the senators. 

^ A son of a bondwoman, at first a muleteer, was afterward made praetor 
and consul. 

2 Servius Tullius, sixth king, was son of a captive. 

* A pupil of Plato and of Isocrates. Was a teacher at Athens. Meeting 
with no success, he hanged himself. 



The Hellenized Roman Education 



419 



Carrinas.^ And you, too, Athens, were witness to the 
poverty of him on whom you had the heart to bestow 
nothing save the hemlock that chilled his life-blood ! 



But do you, parents, impose severe exactions on him Of teachers 
that is to teach your boys ; that he be perfect in the rules '"^^'? 
of grammar for each word — read all histories — know all ^th'but' 
authors as well as his own finger-ends ; that if ques- slight 
tioned at hazard, while on his way to the Thermae or the return, 
baths of Phoebus, he should be able to tell the name of 
Anchises' nurse, and the name and native land of the step- 
mother of Anchemolus — tell off-hand how many years 
Acestes lived — how many flagons of wine the Sicilian 
king gave to the Phrygians. Require of him that he 
mould their youthful morals as one models a face in wax. 
Require of him that he be the reverend father of the com- 
pany, and check every approach to immorality. 

It is no light task to keep watch over so many boyish 
hands, so many little twinkling eyes. "This," says the 
father, " be the object of your care ! " — and when the year 
comes round again. Receive for your pay as much gold as 
the people demand for the victorious Charioteer ! ^ 



Selectiofis fjvm Satire XI V. of Juvenal ^ 

, . . The greatest reverence is due to a child ! If you The moral 
are contemplating a disgraceful act, despise not your education of 

a child 

1 A teacher driven by poverty from Athens and Rome. From thence he was home 
banished by Caligula for political offence. 

2 The charioteer vi'ould receive for an hour's work as much as the teacher 
for a year's. 

2 The entire satire is devoted to this subject : the duty of giving children 
examples of domestic purity and virtue. This is shown for the most part by 
indicating the facility with which children copy the vices of their parents. 
These have some value as an index of the corruption of Roman society that 
had occurred even at this early portion of the imperial period. Juvenal wrote 
in the first half of the second century of this era. The vices he dwells upon 
in this satire are gluttony, cruelty, debauchery, avarice, etc. 



420 Source Book of the History of Education 



Importance 
of example. 



Child's 
character 
formed by 
imitation of 
parent's. 



child's tender years, but let your infant son act as a check 
upon your purpose of sinning. For if, at some future 
time, he shall have done anything to deserve the censor's 
wrath, and show himself like you, not in person only and 
in face, but also the true son of your morals, and one who, 
by following your footsteps, adds deeper guilt to your 
crimes — then, forsooth ! you will reprove and chastise him 
with clamorous bitterness, and then set about altering your 
will. Yet how dare you assume the front severe, and license 
of a parent's speech ; you, who yourself, though old, do 
worse than this ; and the exhausted cupping-glass is long 
ago looking out for your brainless head .-* ^ 

If a friend is coming to pay you a visit, your whole 
household is in a bustle. " Sweep the floor, display the 
pillars in all their brilHancy, let the dry spider come down 
with all her web ; let one clean the silver, another polish 
the embossed plate — " the master's voice thunders out, 
as he stands over the work, and brandishes his whip. 

You are alarmed then, wretched man, lest your entrance- 
hall, befouled by dogs, should offend the eye of your friend 
who is coming, or your corridor be spattered with mud; and 
yet one little slave could clean all this with half a bushel 
of saw-dust. And yet, will you not bestir yourself that 
your own son may see your house immaculate and free 
from foul spot or crime } It deserves our gratitude that 
you have presented a citizen to your country and people, 
if you take care that he prove useful to the state — of ser- 
vice to her lands ; useful in transacting the affairs both of 
war and peace. For it will be a matter of the highest 
moment in what pursuits and moral discipline you train 
him. 

The stork feeds her young on snakes and lizards which 
she has discovered in the trackless fields. They too, when 
fledged, go in quest of the same animals. The vulture, 
quitting the cattle, dogs, and gibbets, hastens to her callow 
brood, and bears to them a portion of the carcass. There- 
fore this is the food of the vulture too when grown up, and 
able to feed itself and build a nest in a tree of its own. . . . 



^ The operation of cupping was a common remedy in diseases of the brain, 
to relieve the pressure of the blood. 



VI. THE ORATOR AS THE IDEAL OF ROMAN 
EDUCATION 

The Period and the Authority. — The De Oratore was 
published in 55 B.C., though the ostensible scene of the 
dialogue was laid in 91 B.C. The conception of a liberal 
education here presented is the ideal of this third period 
of Roman educational development. It was written at the 
close of the most flourishing period of Roman oratory, by 
the consummate master of that art, then at the fulness of 
his experience and at the height of his influence. Since 
the De Oratore is also considered to be the best expression 
of Ciceronian style, we find here in every respect the most 
authoritative, though very general, expression of this rhe- 
torical conception of education. 

Cicero's life covered the period from 106 to 43 b.c, the 
period of the dechne of the Republic. With the transition 
to the Empire, oratory lost its chief incentive, liberty ; but 
its loss in intent was made up for a time by increase in 
extent, representing as it did the accompHshment of every 
educated Roman. Oratorical education gained also in 
becoming more systematic and better defined. On the 
educational side there was development for more than a 
century after the death of its leading exponent. The 
expression of the ideal here given is true for the last 
century of the Republic and the first century of the Em- 
pire. Cicero was not an educator, and does not write 
from the educational point of view, hence there is a lack 

421 



42 2 Source Book of the History of Education 

of definiteness and detail in this respect ; on the contrary, 
he writes as a publicist would now write, not from a 
knowledge of educational processes, but from a knowledge 
of its results and of the demands made by society upon 
educated men. 

In the early life of Cicero, no less than in his writings, 
is found an exposition of the Roman education of his time. 
He attended the ordinary Roman schools, one of which at 
least was under the care of Aulus Licinius Archias, a dis- 
tinguished Greek rhetorician, who in after years was de- 
fended in a lawsuit by his former pupil. This defence, the 
Pro Archia, forms an additional source of information for 
the educational history of this period. In accordance with 
the old educational customs, Cicero was placed, after the 
theoretical training in rhetoric, under the direction or tutor- 
ship of the distinguished lawyer, Scsevola, one of the char- 
acters in the De Oratore. Still later he received a similar 
training from Diodotus the Stoic and in the school of the 
rhetorician Molo. The old customs are further repre- 
sented in his education in military science, which he re- 
ceived through actual service under direction of one of the 
generals in the campaign of the Consul, Pompeius Strabo. 
On the other hand, the later Roman educational customs 
are illustrated by his two years of travel and sojourn in the 
philosophical school of Athens. 

In his accomplishments, as well, Cicero typifies the 
education, whose ideals he here sets forth. As an orator, 
he ranks next to Demosthenes as the greatest of ancient 
orators, and there are yet preserved, either in whole or in 
part, seventy-seven of his orations, all masterpieces of that 
art. As a philosopher, he is the author of several treatises ; 
as a rhetorician, he created Latin prose as a literary Ian- 



The Orator as the Ideal of Education 423 

guage ; as a soldier, he justified his claim to a triumph, 
denied him only because of the civil strife incident to the 
formation of the first triumvirate ; as a statesman, he ranks 
with the great of that century, which was the most produc- 
tive of great men in Roman history ; as a patriot, he ranks 
among the foremost, though his actions are marred by the 
indecision and timidity that has given basis in recent times 
to a view the opposite of this ; as a historian, his reputation 
can hardly be tested by extant works, though he has a claim 
to rank as such. As a poet, however, he does not rank 
so high, his reputation in this respect depending upon 
his youthful productions. All these activities are summed 
up in the one term " orator," which presents the educational 
ideal of the period and the achievements of such a career. 
The Source. — In the De Oratore, Cicero sets forth in a 
completed form his opinions concerning oratory and inci- 
dentally concerning education, since the orator is identi- 
fied with the educated man. This Cicero had already 
done in earlier years, but now, after his long experience 
in public life, he returns to the task. These dialogues 
form a very extensive work, summarizing in popular 
rhetorical form all that is important in the rhetorical 
treatises of Aristotle, Isocrates, and other previous writers 
on oratory. The persons of the dialogue are Lucius 
Licinius Crassus and Marcus Antonius, the two most 
eminent orators of their day ; Quintus Mucins Scasvola, 
a former teacher of Cicero, who was celebrated for his 
knowledge of the civil law; and two young men, Caius 
Amelius Cotta and Publius Sulpicius Rufus, who were 
anxious to distinguish themselves in oratory and for whose 
benefit the dialogues are supposed to have been delivered. 
The views of Cicero are expressed by Crassus, who con- 



424 Source Book of the History of Education 

tends that the complete orator must be acquainted with 
the whole circle of the arts and sciences. Antonius main- 
tains that universal knowledge is unattainable; that the 
attempt to acquire too much will result in dissipation of 
energy and distraction of thought; that much less is 
required of the successful orator ; and that one will accom- 
plish more by concentration of attention upon more practi- 
cal and immediate improvement of the natural powers. The 
ideas of Cicero, as given by Crassus, express the ideal of 
the last century of the Republic and the first century of the 
Empire. But more than that, his ideas have had a vogue 
unparalleled, running as they did through many centuries 
and revived as they were in the Ciceronianism of the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, again to dominate educa- 
tion as an ideal. This dominion is due quite as much to his 
style as to his ideas. It is because Cicero made of Latin 
prose a universal language that his ideas came to have the 
same validity as did his form of expression. These educa- 
tional ideals — both as to form and content — were handed 
down by Quintilian of the first century, the "Christian 
Cicero," Lactantius, of the fourth century, John of Salis- 
bury of the twelfth, Petrarch of the fourteenth, and 
Erasmus of the sixteenth, until they again dominated in 
the later period mentioned. 

In the selections given from the De Oratore no attempt 
has been made to preserve the continuity of the discussion. 
The few paragraphs given lose the proportion of the 
extended dialogues, for they constitute less than one-six- 
teenth of the entire work. The passages quoted present 
Cicero's exposition of the consummation of all education ) 
as found in the orator ; second, the content of that educa- 
tion, identical with our conception of the " humanities " ; 



The Orator as the Ideal of Education 425 

third, the notable account, in paragraphs 31 to 35, of his 
own education. These selections are all taken from the 
first of the three books. 

Summary of Contents of the Source. — To the Roman, 
oratory was of much broader connotation than to the mod- 
ern. The orator included the teacher, the publicist, the 
religious teacher, of the present, as well as the man devoted 
to legal, judicial, or legislative activities : the orator was 
the educated man participating in public affairs. In the ab- 
sence of the modern pulpit, of the press, of the university 
and scientific organization, the orator combined the func- 
tions of these with the functions of the bar and forum. 
The spoken word then accomplished what both the spoken 
and written word does now. Oratory meant efficient pub- 
lic interest and activity. The only rival to the orator as 
the type of the educated man was the Grecian ideal of 
the philosopher, — an ideal foreign to the Roman genius, 
for it had no relation to practical life or the needs of the 
Roman state. The philosopher was interested either in 
knowledge for its own sake or in experience for his own 
satisfaction. Whether the philosophical ideal was Acade- 
mician or Epicurean, it was a narrow one to the Roman. 
With his practical instinct the Roman avoided that indi- 
vidualism — cast though it might be in the highest form — 
which had brought destruction to the Grecian state at the 
same time that it made the influence of Greece cosmopolitan. 

Cicero presents both sides of the question : the philoso- 
pher as viewed by the orator, and the orator as viewed by 
the philosopher. In his conception, the orator should 
have the knowledge of the philosopher in respect both of 
things and human nature, but in addition he should have the 
power to make such knowledge of practical value in influ- 



426 Source Book of the History of Education 

encing his fellows through his power of speech. To the 
Roman this power of speech stood for the various ways 
in which the modern educated man can make his knowl- 
edge effective in the service of his fellows. It is not that 
this conception of education was narrow, but rather 
that the social organization of the times gave but few 
facilities for bringing intellect to bear upon practical in- 
terests. Even the great warriors of the period were no 
less great orators : oratory was not separated from prac- 
tical efficiency. In fact, Cicero offers the first example 
of a man who won his way to prominence and influence 
primarily as a speaker. To Cicero and the Romans phi- 
losophy, whatever might be its character, was deficient, 
because it was self-centred; and it is a fact that the 
decline of public and patriotic interest was coincident with 
the growth of philosophic interest, and was partly due to 
it. From this point of view, oratory was a broader as well 
as a higher aim than philosophy, — it was inclusive of phi- 
losophy. If there were many who failed to reach this 
ideal, if there was much public speaking that was not elo- 
quence, it was at least easily detected, was, in fact, self- 
evident. On the other hand, philosophy, though only a 
partial aim at best, was easily imitated, and the imitation 
was with difficulty detected. In fact, there were more 
delinquents in the latter field than defectives in the for- 
mer ; for philosophy as it became popular at a later time 
was simply the theory of the individualized and self-cen- 
tred Ufe, while oratory set high standards, even though 
its actual accomplishment might be far below its ideals. 

The argument of the philosopher against the orator is 
fourfold : first, the orator obtains all his knowledge con- 
cerning " the immortal gods, the discipline of youth, justice. 



The Orator as the Ideal of Education 427 

patience, temperance, moderation in everything, and other 
matters," only from philosophy; second, the books of the 
rhetoricians are filled not with these large affairs, but with 
rules and petty details; third, even if this literature should be 
of a higher grade and rhetoricians more intelligent teachers, 
eloquence is a natural gift and not an acquired art ; fourth, 
no writer on the art of rhetoric was even moderately elo- 
quent in speech. The diffuse reply to those arguments 
cannot be included in the selections given on account of its 
length. The reply, however, has been substantially pre- 
sented in the previously expressed view of Cicero : elo- 
quence presupposes the knowledge of the philosopher, — 
oratory is based both upon a knowledge of philosophy 
and a knowledge of rhetoric. 

In addition to this general discussion of the oratorical 
conception of education, Cicero gives a general outline of 
the content and the method of his own education. Both, 
however, refer to the work of the rhetorical schools pre- 
viously described. This narrower view is to be supple- 
mented by the general tenor of his entire discussion, which 
insists that the whole realm of knowledge is the proper 
subject-matter of oratorical education. This broader view 
is stated at least in the earlier paragraphs of the selection. 
The entire subject is further treated in detail in the dia- 
logue Oft Bnihis. This extensive work is a concrete 
demonstration and defence of the oratorical conception of 
education, and forms an epitome of Roman history in the 
lives of its eminent orators. Views therein given corrob- 
orate in numerous details, though not in direct exposi- 
tion, statements made in the De Oratore. The systematic 
exposition of the orator as an educational type is given by 
Quintilian a century and a half later. 



428 Source Book of the History of Education 
Selections from the De Oratore of Cicero 

BOOK I 

HI. . . . "The whole art of speaking lies before us, 
and IS concerned with common usage and the custom and 
language of all men ; so that while in other things that is 
most excellent which is most remote from the knowledge 
and understanding of the ilHterate, it is in speaking even 
the greatest of faults to vary from the ordinary kind of 
language, and the practice sanctioned by universal reason 

WomTsthe A ^^\ '^ ''^l^''^ ^^ ^^'^ '^^^^ t^^^th, either that more 

becomes the are devoted to the other arts, or that they are excited by 
educational greater pleasure, more abundant hope, or more ample 
Rome. rewards; for to say nothing of Greece, which was always 

desirous to hold the first place in eloquence, and Athens, 
that mventress of all literature, in which the utmost power 
of oratory was both discovered and brought to perfection 
m this very city of ours, assuredly, no studies were ever 
pursued with more earnestness than those tending to the 
acquisition of eloquence. For when our empire over all 
nations was established, and after a period of peace had ' 
secured tranquilHty, there was scarcely a youth ambitious f 
of praise who did not think that he must strive, with all 
his endeavours, to attain the art of speaking. For a time 
indeed, as bemg ignorant of all method, and as thinking 
there was no course of exercise for them, or any precept! 
of art, they attained what they could by the single force 
of genius and thought. But afterwards, having heard the 
Greek orators, and gained an acquaintance with Greek 
literature, and procured instructors, our countrymen were 
inflamed with an incredible passion for eloquence The 
magnitude, the variety, the multitude of all kind of causes 
excited them to such a degree, that to that learning which 
each had acquired by his individual study, frequent prac- 
tice, which was superior to the precepts of all masters, was 
at once added There were then, as there are also now, 
the highest inducements offered for the cultivation of this 
study, in regard to public favour, wealth, and dignity The 
abilities of our countrymen (as we may judge from many 
particulars), far excelled those of the men of every other 



The Orator as the Ideal of Education 429 

nation For which reasons, who would not justly wonder 
that in the records of all ages, times, and states, so small 
a number of orators should be found ? j 1 tt .• 1 

But the art of eloquence is somethmg greater, and col- Essentml 
lected from more sciences and studies, than people imag- ^'i^^^^fan 
ine V For who can suppose that, amid the greatest orator, 
multitude of students, the utmost abundance of masters, 
the most eminent geniuses among men, the mfinite variety 
of causes, the most ample rewards offered to eloquence, 
there is any other reason to be found for the small number 
of orators than the incredible magnitude and difficulty ot 
the art? A knowledge of a vast number of things is 
necessary, without which volubility of words is empty and 
ridiculous; speech itself is to be formed, not merely by 
choice but by careful construction of words ; and all the 
emotions of the mind, which nature has given to man 
must be intimately known ; for all the force and art ot 
speaking must be employed in allaying or exciting the 
feelings of those who listen. To this must be added a 
certain portion of grace and wit, learning worthy of a well- 
bred man, and quickness and brevity in replymg as well as 
attacking, accompanied with a refined decorum and urban- 
ity Besides, the whole of antiquity and a multitude ot 
examples is to be kept in the memory ; nor is the knowl- 
edge of laws in general, or of the civil law m particular, to 
be neglected. And why need I add any remarks on de- 
livery itself, which is to be ordered by action of body, by 
gesture, by look, and by modulation and variation of the 
?oice the great power of which, alone and in itself, the 
comparatively trivial art of actors and the stage proves on 
which though all bestow their utmost labour to form their 
look, voice, and gesture, who knows not how few there 
are, and have ever been, to whom we can _ attend with 
patience? What can I say of that repository for all 
things, the memory, which, unless it be made the keeper 
of the matter and words that are the fruits of thought 
and invention, all the talents of the orator, we see though 
they be of the highest degree of excellence, will be ot no 
avail ? Let us then cease to wonder what is the cause of 
the scarcity of good speakers, since eloquence results from 
all those qualifications, in each of which singly it is a great 



Breadth of 
knowledge 
essential. 



Only certain 
types of 
oratory dis- 
cussed. 



430 Source Book of the History of Education 

merit to labour successfully ; and let us rather exhort our 
children, and others whose glory and honour is dear to us, 
to contemplate in their minds the full magnitude of the 
object, and not to trust that they can reach the height at 
which they aim, by the aid of the precepts, masters, and 
exercises, that they are all now following, but to under- 
stand that they must adopt others of a different character. 
VI, In my opinion, indeed, no man can be an orator 
possessed of every praiseworthy accomphshment, unless 
he has attained the knowledge of everything important, 
and of all liberal arts, for his language must be ornate and 
copious from knowledge, since, unless there be beneath 
the surface matter understood and felt by the speaker, 
oratory becomes an empty and almost puerile flow of 
words. Yet I will not lay so great a burden upon orators, 
especially our own, amid so many occupations of public 
and private life, as to think it allowable for them to be 
Ignorant of nothing ; although the qualifications of an ora- 
tor, and his very profession of speaking well, seem to' 
undertake and promise that he can discourse gracefully 
and copiously on whatever subject is proposed to him. 
But because this, I doubt now, will appear to most people 
an immense and infinite undertaking, and because I see 
that the Greeks, men amply endowed not only with genius 
and learning, but also with leisure and application, have 
made a kind of partition of the arts, and have not singly 
laboured in the whole circle of oratory, but have separated 
from the other parts of rhetoric that department of elo- 
quence which is used in the forum on trials or in delibera- 
tions, and have left this species only to the orator ; I shall 
not embrace in these books more than has been attributed 
to this kind of speaking by the almost unanimous consent 
of the greatest men, after much examination and discus- 
sion of the subject ; and I shall repeat, not a series of pre- 
cepts drawn from the infancy of our old and boyish learning, 
but matters which I have heard were formerly argued in a 
discussion among some of our countrymen who were of the 
highest eloquence, and of the first rank in every kind of 
dignity. Not that I contemn the instructions which the 
Greek rhetoricians and teachers have left us, but, as they 
are already public, and within the reach of all, and can 



The Orator as the Ideal of Educati07i 431 

neither be set forth more elegantly, nor explained more 
clearly by my interpretation, you will, I think, excuse me, 
my brother, if I prefer to the Greeks the authority of those 
to whom the utmost merit in eloquence has been allowed 
by our own countrymen. 



XL . . . "A controversy indeed on the word Orator has 
long disturbed the minute Grecians, who are fonder of argu- 
ment than of truth. For if any one pronounces him to be 
an orator who can speak fluently only on law in general, or 
on judicial questions, or before the people, or in the senate, 
he must yet necessarily grant and allow him a variety of 
talents; for he cannot treat even of these matters with 
sufficient skill and accuracy without great attention to all 
public affairs, nor without a knowledge of laws, customs, 
and equity, nor without understanding the nature and 
manners of mankind ; and to him who knows these things, 
without which no one can maintain even the most minute 
points in judicial pleadings, how much is wanting of the 
knowledge even of the most important affairs .? But if you 
allow nothing to belong to the orator but to speak aptly, 
ornately, and copiously, how can he even attain these 
qualities without that knowledge which you do^ not allow 
him } for there can be no true merit in speaking, unless 
what is said is thoroughly understood by him who says it. 
If, therefore, the natural philosopher Democritus spoke 
with elegance, as he is reported to have spoken, and as it 
appears to me that he did speak, the matter on which he 
spoke belonged to the philosopher, but the graceful array 
of words is to be ascribed to the orator. And if Plato 
spoke divinely upon subjects most remote from civil con- 
troversies, as I grant that he did ; if also Aristotle, and 
Theophrastus, and Carneades, were eloquent, and spoke 
with sweetness and grace on those matters which they dis- 
cussed ; let the subjects on which they spoke belong to 
other studies, but their speech itself, surely, is the peculiar 
offspring of that art of which we are now discoursing and 
inquiring. For we see that some have reasoned on the 
same subjects jejunely and drily, as Chrysippus, whom 
they celebrate as the acutest of philosophers ; nor is he on 



Even with 
these limi- 
tations, a 
vast range 
of 

knowledge 
necessary. 



Eloquence 
essential to 
every type 
of educated 



432 Source Book of the History of Education 



Oratory de- 
pends upon 
mastery of 
subject as 
well as 
copiousness 
of speech. 



To the 
knowledge 
of the sub- 
ject of the 
philosopher, 
the orator 
adds a 
knowledge 
of human 
nature and 
the ability 
to make his 
knowledge 
effective. 



this account to be thought to have been deficient in phi- 
losophy, because he did not gain the talent of speaking 
from an art which is foreign to philosophy. 

XII. "Where then Hes the difference.-' Or by what 
term will you discriminate the fertility and copiousness of 
speech in those whom I have named, from the barrenness 
of those who use not this variety and elegance of phrase .-• 
One thing there will certainly be, which those who speak 
well will exhibit as their own ; a graceful and elegant style, 
distinguished by a peculiar artifice and polish. But this 
kind of diction, if there be not matter beneath it clear and 
intelligible to the speaker, must either amount to nothing, 
or be received with ridicule by all who hear it. For what 
savours so much of madness, as the empty sound of words, 
even the choicest and most elegant, when there is no sense 
or knowledge contained in them } Whatever be the sub- 
ject of a speech, therefore, in whatever art or branch of 
science, the orator, if he has made himself master of it, as 
of his client's cause, will speak on it better and more ele- 
gantly than even the very originator and author of it can. 
If indeed any one shall say that there are certain trains of 
thought and reasoning properly belonging to orators, and 
a knowledge of certain things circumscribed within the 
limits of the forum, I will confess that our common speech 
is employed about these matters chiefly ; but yet there are 
many things, in these very topics, which those masters of 
rhetoric, as they are called, neither teach nor understand. 
For who is ignorant that the highest power of an orator 
consists in exciting the minds of men to anger, or to hatred, 
or to grief, or in recalling them from these more violent 
emotions to gentleness and compassion } which power will 
never be able to effect its object by eloquence, unless in 
him who has obtained a thorough insight into the nature 
of mankind, and all the passions of humanity, and those 
causes by which our minds are either impelled or restrained. 
But all these are thought to belong to the philosophers, 
nor will the orator, at least with my consent, ever deny 
that such is the case ; but when he has conceded to them 
the knowledge of things, since they are willing to exhaust 
their labours of that alone, he will assume to himself the 
treatment of oratory, which without that knowledge is 



I 



The Orator as the Ideal of Education 433 



nothing. For the proper concern of an orator, as I have 
already often said, is language of power and elegance 
accommodated to the feelings and understandings of 
mankind. 

XIII. "On these matters I confess that Aristotle and 
Theophrastus have written. But consider, Scaevola, whether 
this is not wholly in my favour. For I do not borrow from 
them what the orator possesses in common with them ; but 
they allow that what they say on these subjects belongs 
to oratory. Their other treatises, accordingly, they distin- 
guish by the name of the science on which each is written ; 
their treatises on oratory they entitle and designate as 
books of rhetoric. For when, in their discussions, (as often 
happens,) such topics present themselves as require them 
to speak of the immortal gods, of piety, of concord, of 
friendship, of the common rights of their fellow-citizens, 
or those of all mankind, of the law of nations, of equity, of 
temperance, of greatness of mind, of every kind of virtue, 
all the academies and schools of philosophy, I imagine, 
will cry out that all these subjects are their property, and 
that no particle of them belongs to the orator. But when 
I have given them Hberty to reason on all these subjects in 
corners to amuse their leisure, I shall give and assign to 
the orator his part, which is, to set forth with full power 
and attraction the very same topics which they discuss in 
such tame and bloodless phraseology. These points I then 
discussed with the philosophers in person at Athens, for 
Marcus Marcellus, our countryman, who is now curule 
aedile, obliged me to do so, and he would certainly have 
taken part in our present conversation, were he not now 
celebrating the public games ; for he was then a youth 
marvellously given to these studies. 

Of the institution of laws, of war, of peace, of alliances, 
of tributes, of the civil law as relating to various ranks and 
ages respectively, let the Greeks say, if they will, that 
Lycurgus or Solon (although I think that these should be 
enrolled in the number of the eloquent) had more knowl- 
edge than Hypereides or Demosthenes, men of the highest 
accomplishments and refinement in oratory ; or let our 
countrymen prefer, in this sort of knowledge, the Decem- 
viri who wrote the Twelve Tables, and who must have 



Subject- 
matter of 
the 

philosopher 
and the 
orator the 
same; differ 
in form of 
presentation 
and purpose. 



Cicero's 
definition of 
an orator. 



434 Source Book of the History of Education 



Necessity for 
a general 
knowledge 
demon- 
strated. 



been wise men, to Servius Galba, and your father-in-law 
Laelius, who are allowed to have excelled in the glorious 
art of speaking. I, indeed, shall never deny that there are 
some sciences peculiarly well understood by those who 
have applied their whole study to the knowledge and con- 
sideration of them ; but the accomplished and complete 
orator I shall call him who can speak on all subjects with 
variety and copiousness. 

XIV. For often in those causes which all acknowledge 
properly to belong to orators, there is something to be 
drawn forth and adopted, not from the routine of the 
Forum, which is the only knowledge that you grant to 
the orator, but from some of the more obscure sciences. 
I ask whether a speech can be made for or against a gen- 
eral, without an acquaintance with military affairs, or often 
without a knowledge of certain inland and maritime coun- 
tries .'' whether a speech can be made to the people about 
passing or rejecting laws, or in the senate on any kind of 
pubhc transactions, without the greatest knowledge and 
judgment in political matters .-* whether a speech can be 
adapted to excite or calm the thoughts and passions (which 
alone is a great business of the orator) without a most 
diligent examination of all those doctrines which are set 
forth on the nature and manners of men by the philoso- 
phers ? I do not know whether I may not be less success- 
ful in maintaining what I am going to say ; but I shall not 
hesitate to speak that which I think. Physics, and mathe- 
matics, and those other things which you just now decided 
to belong to other sciences, belong to the peculiar knowl- 
edge of those who profess them ; but if any one would 
illustrate those arts by eloquence, he must have recourse 
to the power of oratory. Nor, if, as is said, Philo, the 
famous architect, who built an arsenal for the Athenians, 
gave that people an eloquent account of his work, is it to be 
imagined that his eloquence proceeded from the art of the 
architect, but from that of the orator. Or, if our friend 
Marcus Antonius had had to speak for Hermodorus on 
the subject of dock-building, he would have spoken, when 
he had learned the case from Hermodorus, with elegance 
and copiousness, drawn from an art quite unconnected with 
dock-building. And Asclepiades, whom we knew as a phy- 



The Orator as the Ideal of Education 435 



sician and a friend, did not, when he excelled others of his 
profession in eloquence, employ, in his graceful elocution, 
the art of physic, but that of oratory. What Socrates used 
to say, that all men are sufficiently eloquejit in that which 
they understand, is very plausible, but not true. It would 
have been nearer truth to say, that no man can be eloquent 
on a subject that he does not understand; and that, if he 
understands a subject ever so well, but is ignorant how to 
form and polish his speech, he cannot express himself 
eloquently even about what he does understand. 

XV. " If, therefore, any one desires to define and com- 
prehend the whole and peculiar power of an orator, that 
man, in my opinion, will be an orator, worthy of so great a 
name, who, whatever subject comes before him, and requires 
rhetorical elucidation, can speak on it judiciously, in set 
form, elegantly, and from memory, and with a certain 
dignity of action. But if the phrase which I have used, 
'on whatever subject,' is thought by any one too compre- 
hensive, let him retrench and curtail as much of it as he 
pleases ; but this I will maintain, that though the orator 
be ignorant of what belongs to other arts and pursuits, 
and understands only what concerns the discussions and 
practice of the Forum, yet if he has to speak on those arts, 
he will, when he has learned what pertains to any of them 
from persons who understand them, discourse upon them 
much better than the very persons of whom those arts 
form the pecuHar province. Thus, if our friend Sulpicius 
have to speak on military affairs, he will inquire about 
them of my kinsman Caius Marius, and when he has re- 
ceived information, will speak upon them in such a manner, 
that he shall seem to Marius to understand them better 
than himself. Or if he has to speak on the civil law, he 
will consult with you, and will excel you, though eminently 
wise and learned in it, in speaking on those very points 
which he shall have learned from yourself. Or if any sub- 
ject presents itself, requiring him to speak on the nature 
and vices of men, on desire, on moderation, on continence, 
on grief, on death, perhaps, if he thinks proper (though 
the orator ought to have a knowledge of these things), he 
will consult with Sextus Pompeius, a man learned in phi- 
losophy. But this he will certainly accomplish, that, of 



Bui 

knowledge 
without 
power of 
effective 
speech is 
not oratory. 



Further 
definition of 
the orator, 
and of his 
attainments. 



436 Source Book of the History of Edtication 

whatever matter he gains a knowledge, or from whomso- 
ever, he will speak upon it much more elegantly than the 
Relation of very person from whom he gained the knowledge. But, 
philosophy since philosophy is distinguished into three parts, inquiries 
an oratory. .^^^ ^^^ obscurities of physics, the subtleties of logic, and 
the knowledge of life and manners, let us, if Sulpicius will 
listen to me, leave the two former, and consult our ease ; 
but unless we have a knowledge of the third, which has 
always been the province of the orator, we shall leave him 
nothing in which he can distinguish himself. The part of 
philosophy, therefore, regarding life and manners, must 
be thoroughly mastered by the orator ; other subjects, even 
if he has not learned them, he will be able, whenever there 
is occasion, to adorn by his eloquence, if they are brought 
before him and made known to him. 
Further XVI. " For if it is allowed amongst the learned that 

illustration Aratus, a man ignorant of astronomy, has treated of heaven 
learning an 1 ^^*^ ^^^ constellations in extremely polished and excellent 
the general verses ; if Nicandcr, of Colophon, a man totally uncon- 
powerofthe nectcd with the country, has written well on rural affairs, 
orator. y^\\^ the aid of poetical talent, and not from understanding 

husbandry, what reason is there why an orator should not 
speak most eloquently on those matters of which he shall 
have gained a knowledge for a certain purpose and occa- 
sion } For the poet is nearly alhed to the orator ; being 
somewhat more restricted in numbers, but less restrained 
in the choice of words, yet in many kinds of embellish- 
ment his rival and almost equal ; in one respect, assuredly, 
1 nearly the same, that he circumscribes or bounds his juris- 
[diction by no limits, but reserves to himself full right to 
range wherever he pleases with the same ease and liberty. 
For why did you say, Scaevola, that you would not endure, 
unless you were in my domain, my assertion, that the \ 
orator ought to be accomplished in every style of speak- i 
ing, and in every part of polite learning 1 I should cer- 
tainly not have said this if I had thought myself to be the i 
orator whom I conceive in my imagination. But, as Caius I 
Lucilius used frequently to say (a man not very friendly 
to you, and on that account less familiar with me than he 
could wish, but a man of learning and good breeding), I 
am of this opinion, that no one is to be numbered among 



The Orator as the Ideal of Education 437 

orators who is not thoroughly accomplished in all branches 
of knowledge requisite for a man of good breeding ; and 
though we may not put forward such knowledge in con- 
versation, yet it is apparent, and indeed evident, whether 
we are destitute of it, or have acquired it ; as those who 
play at tennis do not exhibit, in playing, the gestures of 
the palaestra, but their movements indicate whether they 
have learned those exercises or are unacquainted with 
them ; and as those who shape out anything, though they 
do not then exercise the art of painting, yet make it clear 
whether they can paint or not ; so in orations to courts of 
justice, before the people, and in the senate, although 
other sciences have no peculiar place in them, yet is it 
easily proved whether he who speaks has only been exer- 
cised in the parade of declamation, or has devoted himself 
to oratory after having been instructed in all liberal knowl- 
edge." 

Ht * * * * It: * 

XIX. " Certain men of eloquence at Athens, versed in The 
public affairs and judicial pleadings, disputed on the other argument 
side ; among whom was Menedemus, lately my guest at philosophy 
Rome ; but when he had observed that there is a sort of is the end of 
wisdom which is employed in inquiring into the methods education. 
of settling and managing governments, he, though a 
ready speaker, was promptly attacked by the other, a man 
of abundant learning, and of an almost incredible variety 
and copiousness of argument ; who maintained that every 
portion of such wisdom must be derived from philosophy, 
and that whatever was*"established in a state concerning 
the immortal gods, the discipline of youth, justice, patience, 
temperance, moderation in everything, and other matters, 
without which states would either not subsist at all, or be 
corrupt in morals, was nowhere to be found in the petty 
treatises of the rhetoricians. For if those teachers of 
rhetoric included in their art such a multitude of the most 
important subjects, why, he asked, were their books 
crammed with rules about proems and perorations, and 
such trifles (for so he called them), while about the model- Howoratory 
ling of states, the composition of laws, about equity, jus- is viewed by 
tice, integrity, about mastering the appetites, and forming philosopher. 
the morals of mankind, not one single syllable was to be 



438 Source Book of the History of Education 



In their view 

eloquence 
is due to 
philosophi- 
cal knowl- 
edge and 
natural 
ability. 



found in their pages ? Their precept she ridiculed in such 
a manner, as to show that the teachers were not only 
destitute of the knowledge which they arrogated to them- 
selves, but that they did not even know the proper art and 
method of speaking ; for he thought that the principal 
business of an orator was, that he might appear to those 
to whom he spoke to be such as he would wish to appear 
(that this was to be attained by a life of good reputation, 
on which those teachers of rhetoric had laid down nothing 
in their precepts) ; and that the minds of the audience 
should be affected in such a manner as the orator would 
have them to be affected, an object, also, which could by 
no means be attained, unless the speaker understood by 
what methods, by what arguments, and by what sort 
of language the minds of men are moved in any particular 
direction ; but that these matters were involved and con- 
cealed in the profoundest doctrines of philosophy, which 
these rhetoricians had not touched even with the extremity 
of their lips. These assertions Menedemus endeavoured 
to refute, but rather by authorities than by arguments ; 
for, repeating from memory many noble passages from 
the orations of Demosthenes, he showed that that orator, 
while he swayed the minds of judges or of the people by 
his eloquence, was not ignorant by what means he attained 
his end, which Charmadas denied that any one could 
know without philosophy. 

XX. " To this Charmadas replied, that he did not deny 
that Demosthenes was possessed of consummate ability 
and the utmost energy of eloquence ; but whether he had 
these powers from natural genius, or because he was, as 
was acknowledged, a diligent hearer of Plato, it was not 
what Demosthenes could do, but what the rhetoricians 
taught, that was the subject of inquiry. Sometimes too 
he was carried so far by the drift of his discourse, as to 
maintain that there was no art at all in speaking ; and 
having shown by various arguments that we are so formed 
by nature as to be able to flatter, and to insinuate our- 
selves, as suppliants, into the favour of those from whom 
we wish to obtain anything, as well as to terrify our ene- 
mies by menaces, to relate matters of fact, to confirm what 
we assert, to refute what is said against us, and, finally, 



The Orator as the Ideal of Education 439 

to use entreaty or lamentation ; particulars in which the 
whole faculties of the orator are employed ; and that prac- 
tice and exercise sharpened the understanding, and pro- 
duced fluency of speech, he rested his cause, in conclusion, 
on a multitude of examples that he adduced; for first, as 
if stating an indisputable fact, he affirmed that no writer 
on the art of rhetoric was ever even moderately eloquent, 
going back as far as I know not what Corax and Tisias, 
who, he said, appeared to be the inventors and first authors 
of rhetorical science ; and then named a vast number of 
the most eloquent men who had neither learned, nor cared 
to understand the rules of art, and amongst whom, (whether 
in jest, or because he thought, or had heard something to 
that effect,) he instanced me as one who had received 
none of their instructions, and yet, as he said, had some 
abilities as a speaker ; of which two observations I readily 
granted the truth of one, that I had never been instructed, 
but thought that in the other he was either joking with 
me, or was under some mistake. But he denied there was 
any art, except such as lay in things that were known and 
thoroughly understood, things tending to the same object, 
and never misleading ; but that everything treated by the 
orators was doubtful and uncertain ; as it was uttered by 
those who did not fully understand it, and was heard 
by them to whom knowledge was not meant to be com- 
municated, but merely false, or at least obscure notions, 
intended to live in their minds only for a short time. In 
short, he seemed bent on convincing me that there was no 
art of speaking, and that no one could speak skilfully, or 
so as fully to illustrate a subject, but one who had attained 
that knowledge which is delivered by the most learned of 
the philosophers. On which occasions Charmadas used 
to say, with a passionate admiration of your genius, Cras- ' 
sus, that I appeared to him very easy in listening, and you 
most pertinacious in disputation. 

XXI. " Then it was that I, swayed by this opinion, re- Cicero's 
marked in a Httle treatise which got abroad, and into people's earlier 
hands without my knowledge and against my will, that I had be^tw'^en^the 
known many good speakers, but never yet any one that good 
was truly eloquent ; for I accounted him a good speaker, speaker and 
who could express his thoughts with accuracy and perspi- * ^ orator. 



440 Source Book of the History of Education 

cuity, according to the ordinary judgment of mankind, before 
an audience of moderate capacity ; but I considered him 
alone eloquent, who could in a more admirable and noble 
manner amplify and adorn whatever subjects he chose, and 
who embraced in thought and memory all the principles of 
everything relating to oratory. 



Cicero 
describes his 
own 
education. 



First the 
common- 
places of 
rhetorical 
teaching. 



XXXI. ..." In the first place, I will not deny that, as 
becomes a man well born and liberally educated, I learned 
those trite and common precepts of teachers in general ; 
first, that it is the business of an orator to speak in a man- 
ner adapted to persuade ; next, that every speech is either 
upon a question concerning a matter in general, without 
specification of persons or times, or concerning a matter 
referring to certain persons and times. But that, in either 
case, whatever falls under controversy, the question with re- 
gard to it is usually, whether such a thing has been done, or, 
if it has been done, of what nature it is, or by what name it 
should be called ; or, as some add, whether it seems to have 
been done rightly or not. That controversies arise also on 
the interpretation of writing, in which anything has been ex- 
pressed ambiguously, or contradictorily, or so that what is 
written is at variance with the writer's evident intention; and 
that there are certain lines of argument adapted to all these 
cases. But that of such subjects as are distinct from general 
questions, part come under the head of judicial proceedings, 
part under that of deliberations ; and that there is a third 
kind which is employed in praising or censuring particular 
persons. That there are also certain commonplaces on 
which we may insist in judicial proceedings, in which 
equity is the object ; others, which we may adopt in delib- 
erations, all which are to be directed to the advantage of 
those to whom we give counsel ; others in panegyric, in 
which all must be referred to the dignity of the persons 
commended. That since all the business and art of an ora- 
tor is divided into five parts, he ought first to find out what 
he should say ; next, to dispose and arrange his matter, not 
only in a certain order, but with a sort of power and judg- 
ment ; then to clothe and deck his thoughts with language; 
then to secure them in his memory ; and lastly, to deliver 



The Orator as the Ideal of Edtication 441 

them with dignity and grace. I had learned and under- 
stood also, that before we enter upon the main subject, the 
minds of the audience should be conciliated by an exor- 
dium; next, that the case should be clearly stated; then, 
that the point in controversy should be established ; then, 
that what we maintain should be supported by proof, 
and that whatever was said on the other side should be re- 
futed ; and that, in the conclusion of our speech, whatever 
was in our favour should be amplified and enforced, and 
whatever made " for our adversaries should be weakened 
and invalidated." 

XXXII. "I had heard also what is taught about the Accepted 
costume of a speech ; in regard to which it is first directed precepts 
that we should speak correctly and in pure Latin ; next, intel- rhet'orica"^ 
ligibly and with perspicuity ; then gracefully ; then suitably study, 
to the dignity of the subject, and as it were becomingly ; 
and I had made myself acquainted with the rules relating 
to every particular. Moreover, I had seen art applied to 
those things which are properly endowments of nature ; 
for I had gone over some precepts concerning action, and 
some concerning artificial memory, which were short indeed, 
but requiring much exercise ; matters on which almost all 
the learning of those artificial orators is employed ; and if 
I should say that it is of no assistance, I should say what 
is not true ; for it conveys some hints to admonish the ora- 
tor, as it were, to what he should refer each part of his 
speech, and to what points he may direct his view, so as 
not to wander from the object which he has proposed to 
himself. But I consider that with regard to all precepts 
the case is this, not that orators by adhering to them have 
obtained distinction in eloquence ; but that certain persons 
have noticed what men of eloquence practised of their own 
accord, and formed rules accordingly ; so that eloquence 
has not sprung from art, but art from eloquence ; not that, 
as I said before, I entirely reject art, for it is, though not 
essentially necessary to oratory, yet proper for a man of 
liberal education to learn. And by you, my young friends, 
some preliminary exercise must be undergone ; though 
indeed you are already on the course ; but those who are 
to enter upon a race, and those who are preparing for what 
is to be done in the forum, as their field of battle, may alike 



Methods of 
rhetorical 
instruction 
approved. 



442 Source Book of the History of Education 

previously learn, and try their powers, by practising in 
sport." "That sort of exercise," said Sulpicius, "is just 
what we wanted to understand; but we desire to hear more 
at large what you have briefly and cursorily delivered con- 
cerning art ; though such matters are not strange even to 
us. Of that subject, however, we shall inquire hereafter; 
at present we wish to know your sentiments on exercise." 
XXXIII. " I like that method," replied Crassus, " which 
you are accustomed to practise, namely, to lay down a case 
similar to those which are brought on in the forum, and to 
speak upon it, as nearly as possible, as if it were a real 
case. But in such efforts the generality of students exer-; 
cise only their voice (and not even that skilfully), and try 
their strength of lungs, and volubility of tongue, and please 
themselves with a torrent of their own words ; in which 
exercise what they have heard deceives them, that men by 
speaking succeed in becoming speakers. For it is truly 
said also, That vien by speaking badly make sure of 
becoming bad speakers. In those exercises, therefore, 
although it be useful even frequently to speak on the sud- 
den, yet it is more advantageous, after taking time to con- 
sider, to speak with greater preparation and accuracy. But 
the chief point of all is that which (to say the truth) we 
hardly ever practise (for it requires great labour, which! 
most of us avoid); I mean, to write as much as possible.! 
Writing is said to be tke best and most excellent m.odeller\ 
and teacher of oratory ; and not without reason ; for if what ' 
is meditated and considered easily surpasses sudden and ex- 
temporary speech, a constant and diligent habit of writing 
will surely be of more effect than meditation and considera- 
tion itself ; since all the arguments relating to the subject 
on which we write, whether they are suggested by art, or 
by a certain power of genius and understanding, will pre- 
sent themselves, and occur to us, while we examine and 
contemplate it in the full light of our intellect ; and all the 
thoughts and words, which are the most expressive of their 
kind, must of necessity come under and submit to the keen- 
ness of our judgment while writing ; and a fair arrange- 
ment and collocation of the words is effected by writing, 
in a certain rhythm and measure, not poetical, but oratori- 
cal. Such are the qualities which bring applause and 



The Orator as the Ideal of Education 443 

admiration to good orators ; nor will any man ever attain 
them, unless after long and great practice in writing, how- 
ever resolutely he may have exercised himself in extem- 
porary speeches ; and he who comes to speak after practice 
in writing brings this advantage with him, that though he 
speak at the call of the moment, yet what he says will bear 
a resemblance to something written ; and if ever, when he 
comes to speak, he brings anything with him in writing, 
the rest of his speech, when he departs from what is writ- 
ten, will flow on in a similar strain. As, when a boat has 
once been impelled forward, though the rowers suspend 
their efforts, the vessel herself still keeps her motion and 
course during the intermission of the impulse and force of 
the oars ; so, in a continued stream of oratory, when writ- 
ten matter fails, the rest of the speech maintains a similar 
flow, being impelled by the resemblance and force acquired 
from what was written. 

XXXIV. " But in my daily exercises I used, when a Relative 
youth, to adopt chiefly that method which I knew that J^^'j^'^^/^j^j^ 
Caius Carbo, my adversary, generally practised; which ^nd ^""^ *°° 
was, that, having selected some nervous piece of poetry, or translation, 
read over such a portion of a speech as I could retain in 
my memory, I used to declaim upon what I had been read- 
ing in other words, chosen with all the judgment that I 
possessed. But at length I perceived that in that method 
there was this inconvenience, that Ennius, if I exercised 
myself on his verses, or Gracchus, if I laid one of his ora- 
tions before me, had forestalled such words as were 
peculiarly appropriate to the subject, and such as were the 
most elegant and altogether the best ; so that, if I used the 
same words, it profited nothing ; if others, it was even 
prejudicial to me, as I habituated myself to use such as 
were less eligible. Afterwards I thought proper, and con- 
tinued the practice at a rather more advanced age, to 
translate the orations of the best Greek orators ; by fixing 
upon which I gained this advantage, that while I rendered 
into Latin what I had read in Greek, I not only used the 
best words, and yet such as were of common occurrence, 
but also formed some words by imitation, which would be 
new to our countrymen, taking care, however, that they 
were unobjectionable. 



444 Source Book of the History of Education 

Subject- "As to the exertion and exercise of the voice, of the 

mauer of breath, of the whole body, and of the tongue itself, they do 
not so much require art as labour ; but in those matters wg. 
ought to be particularly careful whom we imitate and whotn 
we would wish to resemble. Not only orators are to be 
observed by us, but even actors, lest by vicious habits we 
contract any awkwardness or ungracefulness. The mem- 
ory is also to be exercised, by learning accurately by heart 
as many of our own writings, and those of others, as we 
can. In exercising the memory, too, I shall not object if 
you accustom yourself to adopt that plan of referring to 
places and figures which is taught in treatises on the art 
Your language must then be brought forth from this 
domestic and retired exercise, into the midst of the field, into 
the dust and clamour, into the camp and military array of the 
forum; you must acquire practice in everything; you must 
try the strength of your understanding ; and your retired 
lucubrations must be exposed to the light of reality. The 
poets must also be studied ; an acquaintance must be 
formed with history ; the writers and teachers in all the 
liberal arts and sciences must be read, and turned over, 
and must, for the sake of exercise, be praised, interpreted, 
corrected, censured, refuted ; you must dispute on both 
sides of every question ; and whatever may seem maintain- 
able on any point, must be brought forward and illustrated. 
The civil law must be thoroughly studied ; laws in general 
must be understood ; all antiquity must be known ; the 
usages of the senate, the nature of our government, the 
rights of our allies, our treaties and conventions, and what-, 
ever concerns the interests of the state, must be learned. 
A certain intellectual grace must also be extracted from 
every kind of refinement, with which, as with salt, every 
oration must be seasoned. I have poured forth to you all 
I had to say, and perhaps any citizen whom you had laid 
hold of in any company whatever, would have replied to 
your inquiries on these subjects equally well." 



\ VII. SCIENTIFIC EXPOSITION OF ROMAN 
EDUCATION 

j Period and Author. — The De Institutione Oratoria was 
[published in the year 96 a.d. It is a systematic summary 
^ of the views of education accepted during the last century 
I'of the Republic and the first century of the Empire. The 
former period is included because many of the views of 
the Instihctes are avowedly not original, but represent the 
' consensus of opinion for the entire period, Cicero especially 
being accepted as the authority. Quintilian's experience 
as a teacher extended from 59 a.d, to the publication of 
the work, — not an unbroken experience, for portions of 
, that time were devoted to the work of the advocate, and 
j several years to the study and labor incident to the prepa- 
! ration of the Institutes. The period represented is, then, 
; practically the third, that of the Hellenized Roman educa- 
tion in its prime. 

Marcus Fabius QuintiHanus was born at Calagurris in 
Spain about 35 a.d. He was educated as an orator in 
Rome, but returned in 59 a.d. to practice in the provinces. 
After ten years he returned to the capital in the suite of 
the Emperor Galba. Here he practised as an advocate, 
and in the reign of Vespasian opened a public school, 
being the first to receive state support through the prac- 
tice instituted by that emperor. Among his contempo- 
raries Quintilian was noted for having acquired a large 
fortune by teaching. He was finally rewarded with a con- 

445 



446 Source Book of the History of Education I 

sulship by the Emperor Domitian for his great success as 
a teacher and for his influence on his times. He was the 
most cultured as well as the most successful of Roman 
teachers. His death occurred at about the close of the 
century. Besides the Institutes, there is extant a collec- 
tion of school exercises or declamations, many of them 
the work of Quintilian, the remainder the work of his 
pupils. 

The Source. — Cicero's exposition of Roman education 
is from the viewpoint of the orator and practical man of 
the world ; QuintiHan's is from the viewpoint of an edu- 
cator. In the De Oratore we have the ideas of an educated 
man concerning the purpose and methods of a system of 
education through which he himself has gone and the 
results of which he has tested by years of experience; 
in the Institutes we have the view of a most successful 
educator of twenty years' experience who has made him- 
self familiar with the literature of his country and of his 
subject, whether presented from the Roman or the Gre- 
cian point of view. The very purpose of the work was 
to bring into harmony the conflicting views of previous 
writers and to systematize accepted views and approved 
or common practices. While the view of education of 
this period and of this work is somewhat narrow, yet 
every phase of education receives some attention, and 
every problem some consideration. There is to be found 
in the study of the Institutes little of such inspiration 
as results from consideration of almost any of the similar 
works of the Greeks. It is a very practical, prosaic pres- 
entation of the education of a matter-of-fact people that 
had borrowed the form without imbibing the spirit of 
Grecian culture. Both as to form and content, it is most 



Scientijic Exposition of Roman Education 447 

typically Roman ; and in its constructive literary form at 
least it is superior to the Greek. 

The Institutes consists of twelve books, from the first, 

second, and last of which the selections have been made. 

The first book relates to the elements of instruction under 

the teachers of grammar and of rhetoric, and to the nature 

of rhetoric itself ; that is, to secondary and higher education. 

The great bulk of the work is a technical treatise on 

rhetoric itself as constituting the whole scope of second- 

\ ary and higher education, the purpose of which Avas the 

production of the orator. Books III. to VII. inclusive are 

devoted to the study of invention; Books VIII. to XL 

|. inclusive, to the discussion of elocution, including memory 

5 and pronunciation. The twelfth book is devoted to the 

, consideration of the orator himself, — " what his morals 

j ought to be ; what should be his practice in understand- 

1 ing, studying, and pleading causes ; what should be his 

I style of eloquence ; what termination there should be to 

i his pleading and what may be his employments after its 

I; termination." This work became the final and standard 

( treatise on the theory and practice of Roman oratory, and 

: is the most elaborate and complete treatise on Roman 

I education ever written. The selections given include all 

\ passages that bear upon education in general, omitting 

\ such portions as have to do merely with the technique of 

grammar and rhetoric. 

General Character of the Educational Content of the 
InsiHutes. — The general conception of education is the 
same as that of Cicero : the aim of education is to produce 
the orator. This term is of much wider significance than 
at the present day, being then identical with the cultivated 
man. Quintilian's definition of the orator is "the good 



448 Source Book of the History of Educatwn I 

man skilled in speaking." The Romans draw a definite 
contrast between the orator and the philosopher, the only 
rival of the orator as the type of the educated man. The 
philosopher cannot be the Roman ideal, for he is not inter- 
ested in the practical affairs of life. He is not " the good 
man,'' however skilled in speaking he may be. Moreover, 
philosophers are rejected because they withdraw them- 
selves from public occupations. It is by insisting upon 
this distinction that the Romans avoid the disintegrating 
effects of the individualizing tendencies of such a period 
in social and educational evolution as characterized the 
Greeks in a similar period. Another objection urged by 
Quintilian against making philosophy the aim of educa- 
tion is that philosophy could be simulated while elo- 
quence could not. It is this breadth of view that gives 
to the teachings of Quintilian much of their educational 
significance. In contrast with the extremely technical 
and narrow discussions on rhetoric and the art of oratory 
which so abounded at this time, and on the other hand 
with the very general and individualistic views of thd 
popular philosophies of the times, whether Stoic, Cynic, 
Epicurean, or Eclectic, was this very definite view of 
Quintilian that education is something which acts upon 
the whole intellectual and moral nature, and something 
the object of which is the production of the effective 
moral man in practical life. 

Such an education as that described by Quintilian is a 
formal institutionalized process ; it is the work of instruc- 
tion given in schools, preferably public schools. It is wholly 
different from the old Roman education. Yet this pre- 
supposition of his should be kept in mind : " It is to be 
stated, however, in the first place, that precepts and trea- 



>> 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 449 

tises on art are of no avail without the assistance of 
nature ; and these instructions, therefore, are not written 
for him to whom talent is wanting, any more than treatises 
on agriculture for barren ground." As with the Greeks, 
then, education depends upon the three factors, nature, 
training, and instruction. The treatise is almost wholly 
■ devoted to the last, with incidental reference to the second. 
I The content of such an education was largely gram- 
; matical and rhetorical. Hence the larger part of this 
I educational treatise has no longer vital interest, since the 
' conception of education has changed so radically. But 
' the general treatment is yet of interest, and the spirit is 
independent of either content or purpose, being that of a 
liberal education of any age. In addition to the grammatical 
and rhetorical training and instruction, a broad literary edu- 
cation is, according to Quintihan, essential. The tenth book 
of the Institutes, devoted to a discussion of the Greek and 
Latin literature, is a critique which has few equals. The 
spirit and the breadth of this aspect of education required by 
Quintilian is of the best. The grammatical and rhetorical 
instruction is to be supplemented by a brief study of music, 
astronomy, geometry, and philosophy. Such studies, how- 
ever, are incidental, and are recommended because con- 
tributory to success as an orator. In the same manner 
the prospective orator must have a general knowledge of 
all subjects — must be a well-informed, though not neces- 
sarily an erudite, man. Here, however, there is no ap- 
proach to the Grecian conception of the value of music 
and the mathematical sciences in the development of the 
mind. 

In the first and second books, Quintilian deals in detail 
with the methods, subject-matter, and organization of 



450 Source Book of the History 'of Education 

elementary and secondary education. Many of his points 
of view are essentially modern. All are marked by the 
same judicious spirit. He would have the work of the 
school fitted to the disposition and ability of the child; 
he calls upon teachers to study the characteristics of 
their pupils ; he opposes corporal punishment, and ad- 
vises attractive rather than compulsory methods ; he 
approves of education in public schools, rather than in the 
home — a preference due largely to the moral corrup- 
tion of the times, but also to the inability of the parent 
to rival the work of a successful teacher, even in the 
supervision and selection of tutors. 

Though Roman education after the time of Quintilian 
did not remain upon the high plane upon which he placed 
it, there was probably no marked decay for at least a cen- 
tury or even two centuries later. Some of the material 
presented bears upon this point. Both Pliny the Younger 
and Tacitus were pupils of QuintiHan, and their testimony 
refers to about this time. The form, methods, and content 
of education remained about the same throughout the 
imperial period, or at least until the imperial interests 
were centred in the East. But in the spirit and purpose 
of education there was a marked and immediate decline. 
In fact, if we may accept the testimony of Tacitus, 
Quintilian was rather stemming the tide in this respect. 
The Institutes may be taken as descriptive of education 
throughout the imperial period so far as general aim, form, 
and method are concerned ; and, in addition, as repre- 
sentative of the general conception and spirit of Hellen- 
ized education at its best. It forms the most thorough, 
systematic and scientific treatment of education to be 
found in classical literature, whether Greek or Roman. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 45 1 
Selections from the Institutes of Oratory, by Quintilian^ 

BOOK I., CHAPTER I 

I. Let a father, then, as soon as his son is born, con- General 
^ceive, first of all, the best possible hopes of him ; for he ^^^f^^"^ °' 
will thus grow the more solicitous about his improvement ^ * ^^^' 
from the very beginning ; since it is a complaint without 
foundation that " to very few people is granted the faculty 
of comprehending what is imparted to them, and that most, 
through dulness of understanding, lose their labour and 
their time." For, on the contrary, you will find the greater 
number of men both ready in conceiving and quick in 
learning ; since such quickness is natural to man ; and as 
birds are born to fly, horses to run, and wild beasts to show 
fierceness, so to us peculiarly belong activity and sagacity 
of understanding ; whence the origin of the mind is 
thought to be from heaven. 2. But dull and unteachable 
persons are no more produced in the course of nature 
than are persons marked by monstrosity and deformities; 
such are certainly but few. It will be a proof of this 
assertion, that, among boys, good promise is shown in the 
far greater number ; and, if it passes off in the progress 
of time, it is manifest that it was not natural ability, but 
care, that was wanting. 3. But one surpasses another, 
you will say, in ability. I grant that this is true ; but only 
so far as to accomplish more or less ; whereas there is no 
one who has not gained something by study. Let him 
who is convinced of this truth, bestow, as soon as he 
becomes a parent, the most vigilant possible care on 
cherishing the hopes of a future orator. 

4. Before all things, let the talk of the child's nurses Importance 
not be ungrammatical. Chrysippus^ wished them, if of early 

•111 r 1 11 j_ training by 

possible, to be women of some knowledge ; at any rate nurses, 
he would have the best, as far as circumstances would 
allow, chosen. To their morals, doubtless, attention is 
first to be paid ; but let them also speak with propriety. 

^ These selections are made from the Watson translation of the Bohn 
Library Series, by special permission of Messers. Bell and Sons. 

^ A Greek philosopher of the Stoic school who lived 282-206 B.C. A few 
fragments of his writings yet remain. 



452 Source Book of the History of Education 



5. It is they that the child will hear first; it is their words 
that he will try to form by imitation. We are by nature 
most tenacious of what we have imbibed in our infant 
years ; as the flavour, with which you scent vessels when 
new, remains in them ; nor can the colours of wool, for. 
which its plain whiteness has been exchanged, be effaced ;\ 
and those very habits, which are of a more objectionable 
nature, adhere with the greater tenacity ; for good ones 
are easily changed for the worse, but when will you 
change bad ones into good ? Let the child not be accus- 
tomed, therefore, even while he is yet an infant, to phrase- 
ology which must be unlearned. 

parents, 6. In parents I should wish that there should be as 

much learning as possible. Nor do I speak, indeed, 
merely of fathers ; for we have heard that Cornelia, the 
mother of the Gracchi (whose very learned writing in her 
letters has come down to posterity), contributed greatly 
to their eloquence ; the daughter of Laslius ^ is said to have 
exhibited her father's elegance in her conversation ; and 
the oration of the daughter of Quintus Hortensius,^ deliv- 
ered before the Triumviri, is read not merely as an honour 
to her sex. 7. Nor let those parents, who have not had 
the fortune to get learning themselves, bestow the less 
care on the instruction of their children, but let them, on 
this very account, be more solicitous as to other particulars. 
Of the boys, among whom he who is destined to this 
prospect is to be educated, the same may be said as con- 
cerning nurses. 

pedagogues. 8. Of pcsdagogi this further may be said, that they 

should either be men of acknowledged learning, which I 

f should wish to be the first object, or that they should be 

conscious of their want of learning ; for none are more 

* pernicious than those who, having gone some little beyond 

the first elements, clothe themselves in a mistaken persua- 

^ Surnamed Sapiens, was born 186 B.C. He had two daughters, one of 
whom was married to Caius F'annius, and the other to Mucius Scsevola. Quin- 
tilian evidently refers to the latter. 

"^ Quintus Hortensius was a distinguished Roman orator who lived 1 14- 
50 B.C. The reference here is to a plea made by his daughter, Hortensia, 
before the triumviri, Octavianus, Antony, and Lepidus, for a remission of 
part of the tax laid on matrons. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 453 

sion of their own knowledge ; since they disdain to yield 
to those who are skilled in teaching, and, growing impe- 
rious, and sometimes fierce, in a certain right, as it were, 
of exercising their authority (with which that sort of men 
are generally puffed up), they teach only their own folly. 
9. Nor is their misconduct less prejudicial to the manners 
of their pupils ; for Leonidas,^ the tutor of Alexander, as 
is related by Diogenes ^ of Babylon, tinctured him with 
certain bad habits, which adhered to him, from his childish 
education, even when he was grown up and become the 
greatest of kings. 

10. If I seem to my reader to require a great deal, let 
him consider that it is an orator that is to be educated ; 
an arduous task, even when nothing is deficient for the 
formation of his character ; and that more and more diffi- 
cult labours yet remain ; for there is need of constant 
study, the most excellent teachers, and a variety of mental 
exercises. 11. The best of rules, therefore, are to be laid 
down ; and if any one shall refuse to observe them, the 
fault will lie, not in the method, but in the man. 

If however it should not be the good fortune of chil- 
dren to have such nurses as I should wish, let them at 
least have one attentive pcsdagogns, not unskilled in lan- 
guage, who, if anything is spoken incorrectly by the nurse 
in the presence of his pupil, may at once correct it, and 
not let it settle in his mind. But let it be understood that 
what I prescribed at first is the right course, and this only 
a remedy. 

12. I prefer that a boy should begin with the Greek Study of 
language, because he will acquire Latin, which is in gen- Greek and 
eral use, even though we tried to prevent him, and because, ^^'"" 
at the same time, he ought first to be instructed in Greek 
learning, from which ours is derived. 13. Yet I should 
not wish this rule to be so superstitiously observed that he 
should for a long time speak or learn only Greek, as is 

^ Leonidas was kinsman of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great. 
He was instructor to the latter previous to the arrival of Aristotle, and was 
noted for his severity. 

2 A native of Seleucia, Babylon, who flourished about 240-152 B.C. None 
of his books are extant. 



454 Source Book of the History of Education 

the custom with most people ; for hence arise many faults 
of pronunciation, which is viciously adapted to foreign 
sounds, and also of language, in which when Greek idioms 
have become inherent by constant usage, they keep their 
place most pertinaciously even when we speak a different 
tongue. 14. The study of Latin ought therefore to follow 
at no long interval, and soon after to keep pace with the 
Greek ; and thus it will happen, that, when we have begun 
to attend to both tongues with equal care, neither will 
impede the other. 
Proper age 1 5. Some have thought that boys, as long as they are 
for begin- under seven years of age, should not be set to learn, be- 
learn.° cause that is the earliest age that can understand what is 

taught, and endure the labour of learning. Of which 
opinion a great many writers say that Hesiod^ was, at 
least such writers as lived before Aristophanes ^ the gram- 
marian, for he was the first to deny that the HupothcBkai? in 
which this opinion is found, was the work of that poet. 
16. But other writers hkewise, among whom is Eratos- 
thenes,^ have given the same advice. Those, however, 
advise better, who, Hke Chrysippus ^ think that no part of 
a child's life should be exempt from tuition ; for Chry- 
sippus, though he has allowed three years to the nurses, 
yet is of opinion that the minds of children may be imbued 
with excellent instruction even by them. 17. And why 
should not that age be under the influence of learning, 
which is now confessedly subject to moral influences } I 
am not indeed ignorant that, during the whole time of 
which I am speaking, scarcely as much can be done as 
one year may afterwards accompUsh, yet those who are of 

1 The earliest epic poet, Homer excepted, whose writings have come down 
to us. He was born at Ascra in Boeotia, about the beginning of the eighth 
century B.C. 

2 A native of Byzantium (about) 260-183 B.C. He has come down to us 
as one of the ablest grammarians and critics of antiquity. 

8 Hupothcekai (counsel), a poem now lost, but generally ascribed to Hesiod. 

* The keeper of the Alexandrian library in the time of Ptolemy Euergetes 
and the author of several works, which are all lost save a few fragments. 
( -222 B.C.) 

^ See note p. 451. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 455 

the opinion which I have mentioned, appear with regard 
to this part of Hfe to have spared not so much the learners 
as the teachers. 18. What else, after they are able to 
speak, will children do better, for they must do something? 
Or why should we despise the gain, how little soever it be, 
previous to the age of seven years ? For certainly, small 
as may be the proficiency which an earlier age exhibits, 
the child will yet learn something greater during the very 
year in which he would have been learning something less. 
19. This advancement extended through each year, is a 
profit on the whole ; and whatever is gained in infancy is an 
acquisition to youth. The same rule should be prescribed 
as to the following years, so that what every boy has to 
learn, he may not be too late in beginning to learn. Let 
us not then lose even the earliest period of life, and so 
much the less, as the elements of learning depend on the 
memory alone, which not only exists in children, but is at 
that time of life even most tenacious. 

20. Yet I am not so unacquainted with differences of Proper 
age, as to think that we should urge those of tender years methods of 
severely, or exact a full complement of work from them ; fj^'t^uction 
for it will be necessary, above all things, to take care lest 

the child should conceive a dislike to the application which 
he cannot yet love, and continue to dread the bitterness 
which he has once tasted, even beyond the years of infancy. 
Let his instruction be an amusement to him ; let him be v 
questioned, and praised ; and let him never feel pleased 
that he does not know a thing ; and sometimes, if he is 
unwilling to learn, let another be taught before him, of 
whom he may be envious. Let him strive for victory now 
and then, and generally suppose that he gains it ; and let 
his powers be called forth by rewards, such as that age 
prizes. 

21. We are giving small instructions, while professing 
to educate an orator ; but even studies have their infancy ; 
and as the rearing of the very strongest bodies commenced 
with milk and the cradle, so he, who was to be the most 
eloquent of men, once uttered cries, tried to speak at first 
with a stuttering voice, and hesitated at the shapes of the 
letters. Nor, if it is impossible to learn a thing completely, 
is it therefore unnecessary to learn it at all. 22. If no 



Of learning 

the 

alphabet, 



456 Source Book of the History of Education 

one blames a father, who thinks that these matters are not 
to be neglected in regard to his son, why should he be 
blamed who communicates to the pubHc what he would 
practise to advantage in his own house ? And this is so 
much the more the case, as younger minds more easily 
take in small things ; and as bodies cannot be formed to 
certain flexures of the limbs unless while they are tender, 
so even strength itself makes our minds likewise more 
unyielding to most things. 23. Would Philip, king of 
Macedonia, have wished the first principles of learning to 
be communicated to his son Alexander by Aristotle, the 
greatest philosopher of that age, or would Aristotle have 
undertaken that office, if they had not both thought that 
the lirst rudiments of instruction are best treated by the 
most accomplished teacher, and have an influence on the 
whole course ? 24. Let us suppose, then, that Alexander 
were committed to me, and laid in my lap, an infant 
worthy of so much solicitude (though every man thinks 
his own son worthy of similar solicitude), should I be 
ashamed, even in teaching him his very letters, to point out 
some compendious methods of instruction? 

For that at least, which I see practised in regard to most 
children, by no means pleases me, namely, that they learn 
the names and order of the letters before they learn their 
shapes. 25. This method hinders their recognition of 
them, as, while they follow their memory that takes the 
lead, they do not fix their attention on the forms of the 
letters. This is the reason why teachers, even when they 
appear to have fixed them sufficiently in the minds of chil- 
dren, in the straight order in which they are usually first 
written, make them go over them again the contrary way, 1 
and confuse them by variously changing the arrangement, \ 
until their pupils know them by their shape, not by their 
place. It will be best for children, therefore, to be taught 
the appearances and names of the letters at once, as they 
are taught those of men. 26. But that which is hurtful 
with regard to letters, will be no impediment with regard 
to syllables. I do not disapprove, however, the practice, 
which is well known, of giving children, for the sake of 
stimulating them to learn, ivory figures of letters to play 
with, or whatever else can be invented, in which that infan- 



Scientific Exposition of Romaii Education 457 

tine age may take delight, and which may be pleasing to 
handle, look at, or name. 

27. But as soon as the child shall have begun to trace and of 
the forms of the letters, it will not be improper that they writing, 
should be cut for him, as exactly as possible, on a board, 
that his style ^ may be guided along them as along grooves, 
for he will then make no mistakes, as on wax (since he 
v/ill be kept in by the edge on each side, and will be unable 
to stray beyond the boundary); and, by following these 
sure traces rapidly and frequently, he will form his hand, 
and not require the assistance of a person to guide his 
hand with his own hand placed over it. 28. The accom- 
plishment of writing well and expeditiously, which is com- 
monly disregarded by people of quality, is by no means 
an indifferent matter ; for as writing itself is the principal 
thing in our studies, and that by which alone sure profi- 
ciency, resting on the deepest roots, is secured, a too slow 
way of writing retards thought, a rude and confused hand 
cannot be read ; and hence follows another task, that of 
reading off what is to be copied from the writing. 29. At 
all times, therefore, and in all places, and especially in 
writing private and familiar letters, it will be a source of 
pleasure to us, not to have neglected even this acquirement. 

30. For learning syllables there is no short way ; they Of learning 
must all be learned throughout; nor are the most diffi- to read, 
cult of them, as is the general practice, to be postponed, 
that children may be at a loss, forsooth, in writing words. 
31. Moreover, we must not even trust to the first learning 
by heart ; it will be better to have syllables repeated, and to 
impress them long upon the memory ; and in reading too, 
not to hurry on, in order to make it continuous or quick, 
until the clear and certain connexion of the letters become 
familiar, without at least any necessity to stop for recollec- 
tion. Let the pupil then begin to form words from sylla- 
bles, and to join phrases together from words. 32. It is 
incredible how much retardation is caused to reading by 
haste ; for hence arise hesitation, interruption, and repeti- 
tion, as children attempt more than they can manage ; and 
then, after making mistakes, they become distrustful even 
of what they know. 33. Let reading, therefore, be at 

1 The iron pencil used for writing on waxen tablets. 



45 S Source Book of the History of Education 



Learning by 
heart. 



Importance 
of pro- 
nunciation. 



first sure, then continuous, and for a long time slow, until, 
by exercise, a correct quickness is gained. 34. For to 
look to the right, as everybody teaches, and to look for- 
ward, depends not merely on rule, but on habit, since, 
while the child is looking to what follows, he has to pro- 
nounce what goes before, and, what is very difficult, the 
direction of his thoughts must be divided, so that one duty 
may be discharged with his voice, and another with his 
eyes. 

When the child shall have begun, as is the practice, to 
write words, it will cause no regret if we take care that he 
may not waste his efforts on common words, and such as 
perpetually occur. 35. For he may readily learn the ex- 
planations of obscure terms, which the Greeks call glos- 
sal} while some other occupation is before him, and 
acquire, amidst his first rudiments, a knowledge of that 
which would afterwards demand a special time for it. 
Since, too, we are still attending to small matters, I would 
express a wish that even the lines, which are set him for 
his imitation in writing, should not contain useless sen- 
tences, but such as convey some moral instruction. 36. 
The remembrance of such admonitions will attend him to 
old age, and will be of use even for the formation of his 
character. It is possible for him, also, to learn the sayings 
of eminent men, and select passages, chiefly from the poets 
(for the reading of poets is more pleasing to the young), 
in his play-time ; since memory (as I shall show in its 
proper place) is most necessary to an orator, and is emi- 
nently strengthened and nourished by exercise ; and, at 
the age of which we are now speaking, and which cannot, 
as yet, produce anything of itself, it is almost the only fac- 
ulty that can be improved by the aid of teachers. 37. It 
will not be improper, however, to require of boys of this 
age (in order that their pronunciation may be fuller and 
their speech more distinct) to roll forth, as rapidly as pos- 
sible, certain words and lines of studied difficulty, com- 
posed of several syllables, and those roughly clashing 
together, and, as it were, rugged-sounding; the Greeks 



1 Glossal was the term the Greeks applied to a foreign or obsolete word 
that required explanation. 



Scientific Expositio7i of Roman Education 459 

call them Chalepoi} This may seem a trifling matter to 
mention, but when it is neglected, many faults of pronun- 
ciation, unless they are removed in the years of youth, are 
fixed by incorrigible ill habit for the rest of life. 



CHAPTER II 

I. But let us suppose that the child now gradually in- Public 
creases in size, and leaves the lap, and applies himself to education to 
learning in earnest. In this place, accordingly, must be to private.^ 
considered the question, whether it be more advantageous 
to confine the learner at home, and within the walls of a 
private house, or to commit him to the large numbers of a 
school, and, as it were, to public teachers. 2. The latter 
mode, I observe, has had the sanction of those by whom 
the polity of the most eminent states were settled, as well 
as that of the most illustrious authors. 

Yet it is not to be concealed, that there are some who, 
from certain notions of their own, disapprove of this almost 
public mode of instruction. These persons appear to be 
swayed chiefly by two reasons : one, that they take better 
precautions for the morals of the young, by avoiding a 
concourse of human beings of that age which is most prone 
to vice (from which cause I wish it were falsely asserted 
that provocations to immoral conduct arise); the other, 
that whoever may be the teacher, he is Hkely to bestow his 
time more liberally on one pupil, than if he has to divide it 
among several. 3. The first reason indeed deserves great 
consideration ; for if it were certain that schools, though 
advantageous to studies, are pernicious to morals, a virtu- 
ous course of life would seem to me preferable to one even 
of the most distinguished eloquence. But in my opinion, 
the two are combined and inseparable ; for I am convinced 
that no one can be an orator who is not a good man ; and, 
even if any one could, I should be unwilling that he should 
be. On this point, therefore, I shall speak first. 

4. People think that morals are corrupted in schools ; 
for indeed they are at times corrupted ; but such may be 

1 Chalepoi was the term the Greeks applied to words and phrases difficult 
to pronounce. 



460 Source Book of the History of Education 



Public 
schools no 
more im- 
moral than 
homes. 



Moral weak- 
ness begins 
with early 
home 
training. 



the case even at home. Many proofs of this fact may be 
adduced ; proofs of character having been vitiated, as well 
as preserved with the utmost purity, under both modes of 
education. It is the disposition of the individual pupil, 
and the care taken of him, that make the whole difference. 
Suppose that his mind be prone to vice, suppose that there 
be neglect in forming and guarding his morals in early 
youth, seclusion would afford no less opportunity for im- 
morality than publicity ; for the private tutor may be him- 
self of bad character ; nor is intercourse with vicious slaves 
at all safer than that with immodest free-born youths. 
5. But if his disposition be good, and if there be not a 
blind and indolent negligence on the part of his parents, 
it will be possible for them to select a tutor of irreproach- 
able character, (a matter to which the utmost attention is 
paid by sensible parents,) and to fix on a course of instruc- 
tion of the very strictest kind ; while they may at the same 
time place at the elbow of their son some influential friend 
or faithful f reedman, whose constant attendance may improve 
even those of whom apprehensions may be entertained. 

6. The remedy for this object of fear is easy. Would 
that we ourselves did not corrupt the morals of our chil- 
dren ! We enervate their very infancy with luxuries. That 
delicacy of education, which we call fondness, weakens all 
the powers, both of body and mind. What luxury v/ill he 
not covet in his manhood, who crawls about on purple ! 
He cannot yet articulate his first words, when he already 
distinguishes scarlet, and wants his purple. 7. We form 
the palate of children before we form their pronunciation. 
They grow up in sedan chairs ; if they touch the ground, 
they hang by the hands of attendants supporting them on 
each side. We are delighted if they utter anything im- 
modest. Expressions which would not be tolerated even 
from the effeminate youths of Alexandria, we hear from 
them with a smile and a kiss. Nor is this wonderful ; we 
have taught them ; they have heard such language from 
ourselves. 8. They see our mistresses, our male objects 
of affection ; every dining room rings with impure songs ; 
things shameful to be told are objects of sight. From such 
practices springs habit, and afterwards nature. The unfor- 
tunate children learn these vices before they know that 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 461 

hey are vices ; and hence, rendered effeminate and luxu- 
ious, they do not imbibe immorahty from schools, but 
:arry it themselves into schools. 

9 But, it is said, one tutor will have more time for one Reply to the 
)upil. First of all, however, nothing prevents that one ^^if^^^;;^^^;, 
)upil, whoever he may be, from being the same with hmi receives 
vho is taught in the school. But if the two objects cannot less atten- 
)e united, I should still prefer the day-hght of an honour- J;,"?;;^^;.""' '^ 
jible seminary to darkness and solitude ; for every eminent j^^ster than 
eacher delights in a large concourse of pupils, and thinks from a 
limself worthy of a still more numerous auditory. 10. But ^'^^^^^'^ 
nferior teachers, from a consciousness of their inability, 
lo not disdain to fasten on single pupils, and to discharge 
he duty as it were oi pcedagogi. 11. But supposing that 
-ither interest, or friendship, or money, should secure to 
my parent a domestic tutor of the highest learning, and in 
ivery respect unrivalled, will he however spend the whole 
lay on one pupil ? Or can the application of any pupil be 
!;o constant as not to be sometimes wearied, like the sight 
pf the eyes, by continued direction to one object, especially 
1 IS study requires the far greater portion of time to be soli- 
i:ary .? 12. For the tutor does not stand by the pupil while 
I le is writing, or learning by heart, or thinking ; and when he 
^s engaged in any of those exercises, the company of any 
i person whatsoever is a hindrance to him. Nor does every 
'Icind of reading require at all times a praelector or inter- 
preter; for when, if such were the case, would the knowl- 
edge of so many authors be gained .? The time, therefore, 
during which the work as it were for the whole day may 
be laid out, is but short. i3- Thus the instructions which 
are to be given to each may reach to many. Most of them, 
'indeed, are of such a nature that they may be communi- 
cated to all at once with the same exertion of the voice. 
^I say nothing of the topics and declamations of the rheto- 
Iricians, at which, certainly, whatever be the number of the 
I audience, each will still carry off the whole. 14- For the 
i voice of the teacher is not like a meal, which will not suffice 
i for more than a certain number, but like the sun, which 
' diffuses the same portion of hght and heat to all. If a 
grammarian, too, discourses on the art of speaking, solves 
j questions, explains matters of history, or illustrates poems, 



Advantages 
of a public 
school 
education : 



emulation, 



friendships, 



462 Source Book of the History of Education 

as many as shall hear him will profit by his instructions. 

15. But, it may be said, number is an obstacle to correc- 
tion and explanation. Suppose that this be a disadvan- 
tage in a number (for what in general satisfies us in every 
respect .'') we will soon compare that disadvantage with 
other advantages. 

Yet I would not wish a boy to be sent to a place where 
he will be neglected. Nor should a good master encumber 
himself with a greater number of scholars than he can man- 
age ; and it is to be a chief object with us, also, that the 
master may be in every way our kind friend, and may have 
regard in his teaching, not so much to duty, as to affection. 
Thus we shall never be confounded with the multitude. 

16. Nor will any master, who is in the slightest degree 
tinctured with literature, fail particularly to cherish that 
pupil in whom he shall observe application and genius, 
even for his own honour. But even if great schools 
ought to be avoided (a position to which I cannot assent, 
if numbers flock to a master on account of his merit), the 
rule is not to be carried so far that schools should be 
avoided altogether. It is one thing to shun schools, 
another to choose from them. 

17. If I have now refuted the objections which are made 
to schools, let me next state what opinions I myself enter- 
tain. 18. First of all, let him who is to be an orator, and 
who must live amidst the greatest publicity, and in the full 
daylight of public affairs, accustom himself, from his boy- 
hood, not to be abashed at the sight of men, nor pine in a 
solitary and as it were recluse way of life. The mind re- 
quires to be constantly excited and roused, while in such 
retirement it either languishes, and contracts rust, as it 
were, in the shade, or on the other hand, becomes swollen 
with empty conceit, since he who compares himself to no 
one else, will necessarily attribute too much to his own 
powers. 19. Besides, when his acquirements are to be 
displayed in public, he is blinded at the light of the sun, 
and stumbles at every new object, as having learned in 
solitude that which is to be done in public. 20. I say 
nothing of friendships formed at school, which remain in 
full force even to old age, as if cemented with a certain 
religious obligation ; for to have been initiated in the same 



Scientific Jixpositioii of Roman Education 463 



[studies is a not less sacred bond than to iiave been initiated in 
[the same sacred rites. That sense, too, which is called com- 
i mon sense, where shall a young man learn when he has sepa- 
' rated himself from society, which is natural not to men only, 
but even to dumb animals? 21. Add to this, that, at 
home, he can learn only what is taught himself ; at school, 
even what is taught others. 22. He will daily hear many 
things commended, many things corrected ; the idleness of 
a fellow student, when reproved, will be a warning to him ; 
the industry of any one, when commended, will be a stimu- 
lus ; emulation will be excited by praise ; and he will think 
it a disgrace to yield to his equals in age, and an honour 
to surpass his seniors. All these matters excite the mind ; 
and though ambition itself be a vice, yet it is often the 
parent of virtues. 

23. I remember a practice that was observed by my 
masters, not without advantage. Having divided the boys 
into classes, they assigned them their order in speaking in 
conformity to the abilities of each ; and thus each stood in 
the higher place to declaim according as he appeared to 
. excel in proficiency. 24. Judgments were pronounced 
on the performances ; and great was the strife among us 
for distinction ; but to take the lead of the class was by far 
the greatest honour. Nor was sentence given on our merits 
only once ; the thirtieth day brought the vanquished an 
opportunity of contending again. Thus he who was most 
successful, did not relax his efforts, while uneasiness incited 
the unsuccessful to retrieve his honour. 25. I should be 
inclined to maintain, as far as I can form a judgment from 
what I conceive in my own mind, that this method furnished 
stronger incitements to the study of eloquence, than the 
exhortations of preceptors, the watchfulness of pcsdagogi, 
or the wishes of parents. 

26. But as emulation is of use to those who have made 
some advancement in learning, so, to those who are but 
beginning, and are still of tender age, to imitate their school- 
fellows is more pleasant than to imitate their master, 
for the very reason that it is more easy ; for they who are 
learning the first rudiments will scarcely dare to exalt them- 
selves to the hope of attaining that eloquence which they 
regard as the highest ; they will rather fix on what is near- 



profit from 
advances 
and error of 
others, 



incitement 
to the study 
of 
eloquence, 



imitation of 
those more 
advanced, 



464 Source Book of the History of Education 

est to them, as vines attached to tree gain the top by 
taking hold of the lower branches first. 27. This is an 
observation of such truth, that it is the care even of the 
master himself, when he has to instruct minds that are still 
unformed, not (if he prefer at least the useful to the showy) 
to overburden the weakness of his scholars, but to moderate 
his strength, and to let himself down to the capacity of the 
learner. 28. For as narrow-necked vessels reject a great 
quantity of the liquid that is poured upon them, but are 
filled by that which flows or is poured into them by degrees, 
so it is for us to ascertain how much the minds of boys can 
receive, since what is too much for their grasp of intellect 
will not enter their minds, as riot being sufficiently expanded 
to admit it. 29. It is of advantage therefore for a boy to 
have school-fellows whom he may first imitate, and after- 
wards try to surpass. Thus will he gradually conceive hope 
of higher excellence, 
greater To these observations I shall add, that masters them- 

incentive to selves, when they have but one pupil at a time with them, 
cannot feel the same degree of energy and spirit in 
addressing him, as when they are excited by a large num- 
ber of hearers. 30. Eloquence depends in a great degree 
on the state of the mind, which must conceive images of 
objects, and transform itself, so to speak, to the nature of 
the things of which we discourse. Besides, the more 
noble and lofty a mind is, by the more powerful springs, 
as it were, is it moved, and accordingly is both strength- 
ened by praise, and enlarged by effort, and is filled with 
joy at achieving something great. 31. But a certain secret 
disdain is felt at lowering the power of eloquence, acquired 
by so much labour, to one auditor ; and the teacher is 
ashamed to raise his style above the level of ordinary con- 
versation. Let any one imagine, indeed, the air of a man 
haranguing, or the voice of one entreating, the gesture, the 
pronunciation, the agitation of mind and body, the exer- 
tion, and, to mention nothing else, the fatigue, while he 
has but one auditor; would not he seem to be affected 
with something like madness .'' There would be no elo- 
quence in the world, if we were to speak only with one 
person at a time. 



masters. 



Scientific Expositio7i of Roman Education 465 



CHAPTER III 

I. Let him that is skilled in teaching, ascertain first of 
all, when a boy is entrusted to him, his ability and disposi- 
tion. The chief symptom of ability in children is memory, 
of which the excellence is two-fold, to receive with ease 
and retain with fidelity. The next symptom is imitation ; 
for that is an indication of a teachable disposition, but with 
this provision, that it express merely what it is taught, and 
not a person's manner or walk, for instance, or whatever 
may be remarkable for deformity. 2. The boy who shall 
make it his aim to raise a laugh by his love of mimicry, 
will afford me no hope of good capacity ; for he who is 
possessed of great talent will be well disposed ; else I 
should think it not at all worse to be of a dull, than of a 
bad, disposition ; but he who is honourably inclined will 
be very different from the stupid or idle. 3. Such a pupil 
as I would have, will easily learn what is taught him, and 
will ask questions about some things, but will still rather 
follow than run on before. That precocious sort of talent 
scarcely ever comes to good fruit. 4. Such are those who 
do little things easily, and, impelled by impudence, show 
at once all that they can accomplish in such matters. But 
they succeed only in what is ready to their hand ; they 
string words together, uttering them with an. intrepid 
countenance, not in the least discouraged by bashfulness ; 
and do little but do it readily. 5. There is no real power 
behind, or any that rests on deeply fixed roots ; but they 
are like seeds which have been scattered on the surface of 
the ground and shoot up prematurely, and hke grass that 
resembles corn, and grows yellow, with empty ears, before 
the time of harvest. Their efforts give pleasure, as com- 
pared with their years ; but their progress comes to a 
stand and our wonder diminishes. 

6. When a tutor has observed these indications, let him 
next consider how the mind of his pupil is to be managed. 
Some boys are indolent, unless you stimulate them ; some 
are indignant at being commanded ; fear restrains some, 
and unnerves others ; continued labour forms some ; with 
others, hasty efforts succeed better. 7. Let the boy be 
given to me, whom praise stimulates, whom honour delights. 



Dispositions 
and abilities 
of pupils 
to be 
ascertained. 



Precocious- 
ness not 
desirable. 



Manage- 
ment of 
pupils. 



466 Source Book of the History of Education 



who weeps when he is unsuccessful. His powers must be 
cultivated under the influence of ambition ; reproach will 
sting him to the quick ; honour will incite him ; and in 
such a boy I shall never be apprehensive of indifference. , 
Relaxation 8. Yet some relaxation is to be allowed to all ; not only I 

and play. because there is nothing that can bear perpetual labour, 
(and even those things that are without sense and life are 
unbent by alternate rest, as it were, in order that they may 
preserve their vigour), but because application to learning 
depends on the will, which cannot be forced. 9. Boys, 
accordingly, when re-invigorated and refreshed, bring 
more sprightliness to their learning, and a more determined 
spirit, which for the most part spurns compulsion. 10. Nor 
will play in boys displease me ; it is also a sign of vivac- 
ity ; and I cannot expect that he who is always dull and 
spiritless will be of an eager disposition in his studies, when 
he is indifferent even to that excitement which is natural 
to his age. 11. There must however be bounds set to 
relaxation, lest the refusal of it beget an aversion to study, 
or too much indulgence in it a habit of idleness. There 
are some kinds of amusement, too, not unserviceable for 
sharpening the wits of boys, as when they contend with 
each other by proposing all sorts of questions in turn. 
12. In their plays, also, their moral dispositions show 
themselves more plainly, supposing that there is no age 
so tender that it may not readily learn what is right and 
wrong ; and the tender age may best be formed at a time 
when it is ignorant of dissimulation, and most willingly 
submits to instructors ; for you may break, sooner than 
mend, that which has hardened into deformity. 13. A 
child is as early as possible, therefore, to be admonished 
that he must do nothing too eagerly, nothing dishonestly, 
nothing without self-control ; and we must always keep in 
mind the maxim of Virgil, Adeo in teneris consuescere mul- 
twn est, " of so much importance is the acquirement of 
habit in the young." 
Corporal 1 4- I^ut that boys should suffer corporal punishment, 

punishment, though it be a received custom, and Chrysippus makes no 
objection to it, I by no means approve ; first, because it is 
a disgrace, and a punishment for slaves, and in reality (as 
will be evident if you imagine the age changed) an affront ; 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 467 

secondly, because, if a boy's disposition be so abject as 
not to be amended by reproof, he will be hardened, like 
the worst of slaves, even to stripes ; and lastly, because, if 
one who regularly exacts his tasks be with him, there will 
not be the least need of any such chastisement. 15. At 
present, the negligence of pCBdagogi seems to be made 
amends for in such a way that boys are not obliged to do 
what is right, but are punished whenever they have not 
done it. Besides, after you have coerced a boy with 
stripes, how will you treat him when he becomes a young 
man, to whom such terror cannot be held out, and by 
whom more difficult studies must be pursued } 16. Add 
to these considerations, that many things unpleasant to be 
mentioned, and likely afterwards to cause shame, often 
happen to boys while being whipped, under the influence 
of pain or fear ; and such shame enervates and depresses 
the mind, and makes them shun people's sight and feel a 
constant uneasiness. 17. If, moreover, there has been too 
little care in choosing governors and tutors of reputable 
character, I am ashamed to say how scandalously un- 
worthy men may abuse their privilege of punishing, and 
what opportunity also the terror of the unhappy chil- 
dren may sometimes afford to others. I will not dwell 
upon this point ; what is already understood is more than 
enough. It will be sufficient therefore to intimate, that 
no man should be allowed too much authority over an age 
so weak and so unable to resist ill-treatment. 

18. I will now proceed to show in what studies he who 
is to be so trained that he may become an orator, must be 
instructed, and which of them must be commenced at each 
particular period of youth. 

CHAPTER IV 

I. In regard to the boy who has attained facility in Grammati- 
reading and writing, the next object is instruction from cal studies 
the grammarians. Nor is it of importance whether I speak foundation, 
of the Greek or Latin grammarian, though I am inclined 
to think that the Greek should take the precedence. 
2. Both have the same method. This profession, then, 
distinguished as it is, most compendiously, into two parts, 



468 Source Book of the History of Education 

the art of speaking correctly, and the ilhist ration of the poets, 
carries more beneath the surface than it shows on its front. 
3. For not only is the art of writing combined with that 
of speaking, but correct reading also precedes illustration, ; 
and with all these is joined the exercise oi judgment, which I 
the old grammarians, indeed, used with such severity, that \ 
they not only allowed themselves to distinguish certain 
verses with a particular mark of censure, and to remove, 
as spurious, certain books which had been inscribed with 
false titles, from their sets, but even brought some authors ' 
within their canon, and excluded others altogether from f 
classification. 4. Nor is it sufficient to have read the poets 
only ; every class of writers must be studied, not simply for 
matter, but for words, which often receive their authority 
from writers. Nor can grammar be complete without a 
knowledge of music, since the grammarian has to speak 
of metre and rhythm ; nor if he is ignorant of astronomy, . 
can he understand the poets, who, to say nothing of other I 
matters, so often allude to the rising and setting of the | 
stars in marking the seasons ; nor must he be unac- 
quainted with philosophy, both on account of numbers of 
passages, in almost all poems, drawn from the most ab- 
struse subtleties of physical investigation, and also on 
account of Empedocles ^ among the Greeks, and Varro^ 
and Lucretius ^ among the Latins, who have committed 
the precepts of philosophy to verse. 5. The grammarian 
has also need of no small portion of eloquence, that he 
may speak aptly and fluently on each of those subjects 
which are here mentioned. Those therefore are by no 
means to be regarded who deride this science as trifling 
and empty, for unless it lays a sure foundation for the 
future orator, whatever superstructure you raise will fall ; 

^ A Greek philosopher and poet, born at Agrigentum in Sicily about 490 B.C. 
He is supposed to have died in Greece about 430 B.C. His philosophy is 
grounded upon the assumption of four unchangeable elements, fire, air, earth, 
and water, and two opposing forces, Love and Hate. 

2 A Roman poet (82-36 B.C.), of whose works we have a few fragments. 
His fame rests in the domain of narrative epic poetry. 

2 A Roman poet, born at Rome about 98 B.C. and died by his own hand in 
55 B.C. His chief work is a didactic poem in hexameter verse of six books 
concerning the nature of things {De Rerum Natura). 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 469 

it is a science which is necessary to the young, pleasing to 
the old, and an agreeable companion in retirement, and 
which alone, of all departments of learning, has in it more 
service than show. 

CHAPTER VIII 

I. Reading remains to be considered; in which how a On reading, 
boy may know when to take breath, where to divide a 
verse, where the sense is concluded, where it begins, when 
the voice is to be raised or lowered, what is to be uttered 
with any particular inflexion of sound, or what is to be 
pronounced with greater slowness or rapidity, with greater 
animation or gentleness than other passages, can be taught 
only in practice. 2. There is but one direction, therefore, 
which I have to give in this part of my work, namely, 
that he may be able to do all this successfully, let him under- 
stand what he reads. 



4. Other points demand much admonition to be given Authors to 
on them ; and care is to be taken, above all things, that ^^ '^^^'^• 
tender minds, which will imbibe deeply whatever has 
entered them while rude and ignorant of everything, may 
learn, not only what is eloquent, but, still more, what is 
morally good. 5. It has accordingly been an excellent 
custom, that reading should commence with Homer and 
Virgil, although, to understand their merits, there is need 
of maturer judgment ; but for the acquisition of judgment 
there is abundance of time ; for they will not be read once 
only. In the meantime, let the mind of the pupil be 
exalted with the sublimity of the heroic verse, conceive 
ardour from the magnitude of the subjects, and be imbued 
with the noblest sentiments. 6. The reading of tragedies 
is beneficial ; the lyric poets nourish the mind, provided 
that you select from them, not merely authors, but por- 
tions of their works ; for the Greeks are licentious in 
many of their writings, and I should be loath to interpret 
Horace in certain passages. As to elegy, at least that 
which treats of love, and hendecasyllables} and poems in 

1 A line of eleven syllables. This refers chiefly to the Phalascian verse, 
such as Catullus wrote. 



470 Source Book of the History of Education 

which there are portions of Sotadic ^ verses, (for concern- 
ing Sotadic verses themselves no precept need even be 
mentioned,) let them be altogether kept away, if it be pos- 
sible ; if not, let them at least be reserved for the greater 
strength of mature age. 7. Of comedy, which may con- 
tribute very much to eloquence, as it extends to all sorts 
of characters and passions, I will state a little further on, 
in the proper place, the good which I think it may do to 
boys ; when their morals are out of danger, it will be 
among the subjects to be chiefly read. It is of Mejiaiider^ 
that I speak, though I would not set aside other comic 
writers ; for the Latin authors, too, will confer some bene- 
fit. 8. But those writings should be the subjects of lec- 
tures for boys, which may best nourish the mind and enlarge 
the thinking powers ; for reading other books, which relate 
merely to erudition, advanced life will afford sufficient time. 
The old Latin authors, however, will be of great use, 
though most of them, indeed, were stronger in genius 
than in art. Above all they will supply a copia verborimi ; 
while in their tragedies may be found a weightiness of 
thought, and in their comedies elegance, and something as 
it were of Atticism. 9. There will be seen in them, too, 
a more careful regard to regularity of structure than in 
most of the moderns, who have considered that the merit 
of every kind of composition lies solely in the thoughts. 
Purity, certainly, and, that I may so express myself, manli- 
ness, is to be gained from them ; since we ourselves have 
fallen into all the vices of refinement, even in our manner 
of speaking. 10. Let us, moreover, trust to the practice of 
the greatest orators, who have recourse to the poems of the 
ancients, as well for the support of their arguments, as for 
the adornment of their eloquence. 11. For in Cicero, 
most of all, and frequently, also, in Asinius,^ and others 

^ A peculiar metre originated by Sotades, a Greek poet of the third cen- 
tury B.C., which was much imitated. It was chiefly used for malicious satires, 
generally on indelicate subjects. 

2 The chief representative of the Later Attic Comedy, He was born at 
Athens and lived 342-290 B.C. Fragments of his works are extant. 

8 A celebrated Roman poet, orator, and historian, who lived 75 B.C.-4 A.D. 
He wrote many works, but not one has survived. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 471 

nearest to his times, we see verses of Ennuis} Accms^ 
Pac7ivius^ Lncilius} Terence^ Ccscilius,^ and other poets, 
introduced, with the best effect, not only for showing the 
learning of the speakers, but for giving pleasure to the 
hearers, whose ears find in the charms of poetry a relief 
from the want of elegance in forensic pleading. 12. To 
this is to be added no mean advantage, as the speakers con- 
firm what they have stated by the sentiments of the poets, 
as by so many testimonies. But those first observations 
of mine have reference rather to boys, the latter to more 
advanced students, for the love of letters, and the benefit 
of reading, are bounded, not by the time spent at school, 
but by the extent of life. 



CHAPTER X 

I. These remarks I have made, as briefly as I could, 
upon grammar, not so as to examine and speak of every 
thing, which would be an infinite task, but merely of the 
most essential points. I shall now add some concise ob- 
servations on the other departments of study, in which I 
think that boys should be initiated before they are com- 
mitted to the teacher of rhetoric, in order that that circle 
of instruction, which the Greeks call i'yKVKXto'; iraLheia'' may 
be completed. 

1 Born at Rudise in Calabria in 239 B.C., and died in 170 B.C. He was 
the founder of the Hellenized type of Latin poetry. His greatest work 
was the Annales, a chronological narrative of Roman history in verse. 

2 The most highly esteemed as well as prolific of the tragic poets under the 
Republic. He was born at Pisaurum in Umbria 170 B.C., and died about 
90 B.C. 

8 Born about 220 B.C. at Brundisium, and died about 130 B.C. He is the 
first Roman dramatist who confined himself to the composing of tragedies. 

* The founder of Roman satire; born about 180 B.C. at Suessa Aurunca in 
Campania, and died at Naples 103 B.C. 

5 The celebrated Roman comic poet who lived 185-159 B.C. Some of his 
works have come down to us. 

^ A writer of Latin comedy. He was a Gaul, and came to Rome about 
194 B.C., as a prisoner of war. He died 166 B.C. 

' The circle of those arts and sciences which every freeborn youth was 
obliged to go through before applying to any professional studies. 



472 Source Book of the History of Education 



Studies 
preliminary 
to that of 
rhetoric. 



2. For about the same age the study of other accom- 
phshments must be commenced; concerning which, as they 
are themselves arts, and cannot be complete without the 
art of oratory, but are nevertheless insufficient of them- 
selves to form an orator, it is made a question whether they 
are necessary to this art. 3. Of what service is it, say 
some people, for pleading a cause, or pronouncing a legal 
opinion, to know how equilateral triangles may be erected 
upon a given line } Or how will he, who has marked the 
sounds of the lyre by their names and intervals, defend an 
accused person, or direct consultations, the better on that 
account.'' 4. They may perhaps reckon, also, many speak- 
ers, effective in every way in the forum, who have never 
attended a geometrician, and who know nothing of musi- 
cians except by the common pleasure of listening to them. 
To these observers I answer in the first place (what Cicero 
also frequently remarks in his book addressed to Brutus), 
that it is not such an orator as is or has been, that is to be 
formed by us, but that we have conceived in our mind an 
idea of tJie perfect orator, an orator deficient in no point 
whatever. 5. For when the philosophers would form 
their zvise man, who is to be perfect in every respect, and, 
as they say, a kind of mortal god, they not only believe 
that he should be instructed, in a general knowledge of 
divine and human things, but conduct him through a course 
of questions which are certainly little, if you consider them 
merely in themselves, (as, sometimes, through studied 
subtleties of argument,) not because questions about horns^ 
or crocodiles'^ can form a wise man, but because a wise man 
ought never to be in error even in the least matters. 6. In 
like manner, it is not the geometrician, or the musician, or 
the other studies which I shall add to theirs, that will make 
the perfect orator (who ought to be a wise man), yet these 
accomplishments will contribute to his perfection. We see 

1 Puzzhng questions which appear to have had their name from the follow- 
ing syllogism : "You have what you have not lost; but you have not lost 
horns ; therefore you have horns." 

2 Named from the following question : " A crocodile, having seized a 
woman's son, said he would restore him to her if she would tell the truth. 
SherepHed: 'You will not restore him.' Ought the crocodile to have re- 
stored the child or not?" 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 473 

an antidote, for example, and other medicines to heal dis- 
eases and wounds, compounded of many and sometimes 
opposite ingredients, from the various qualities of which 
results that single compound, which resembles none of 
them, yet takes its peculiar virtues from them all; 7. mute 
insects, too, compose the exquisite flavour of honey, inimita- 
ble by human reason, of various sorts of flowers and juices; 
and shall we wonder that eloquence, than which the provi- 
dence of the gods has given nothing more excellent to 
men, requires the aid of many arts, which, even though 
they may not appear, or put themselves forward, in the 
course of a speech, yet contribute to it a secret power, 
and are silently felt ? 8. " People have been eloquent," 
some one may say, " without these arts ; " but I want a 
perfect orator. " They contribute little assistance," an- 
other may observe ; but that, to which even Httle shall be 
wanting, will not be a whole ; and it will be agreed that 
perfection is a whole, of which though the hope may be 
on a distant height as it were, yet it is for us to suggest 
every means of attaining it, that something more, at least, 
may thus be done. But why should our courage fail us } 
Nature does not forbid the formation of a perfect orator ; 
and it is disgraceful to despair of what is possible. 

9. For myself, I could be quite satisfied with the judg- As to music; 
ment of the ancients; for who is ignorant that music authority for 
(to speak of that science first) enjoyed, in the days of an- 
tiquity, so much, not only of cultivation, but of reverence, 
that those who were musicians were deemed also prophets 
and sages, as, not to mention others, Orpheus ^ and Limis, ^ 
both of whom are transmitted to the memory of posterity as 
having been descended from the gods, and the one, because 
he soothed the rude and barbarous minds of men by the 
wonderful effect of his strains, as having drawn after him 
not only wild beasts, but even rocks and woods. 10. Tima- 

^ The famous mythical poet, son of QLagrus and the muse Calliope. Such 
was his power in song that he could move trees and rocks, and even tame 
wild beasts. 

^ A hero representing probably a god of the old Greek nature-worship. 
His death was commemorated in widely known laments. Tradition says he 
was the son of Apollo and the princess Psamathe. 



474 Source Book of the History of Education 

genes ^ declares that music was the most ancient of sciences 
connected with literature ; an opinion to which the most 
celebrated poets give their support, according to whom the 
praises of gods and heroes used to be sung to the lyre 
at royal banquets. Does not Virgil's lopas,^ too, sing 
errantem lunam solisque labores, " the wandering moon, 
and labours of the sun ; " the illustrious poet thus plainly 
asserting that music is united with the knowledge of divine 
things ? If this position be granted, music will be necessary 
also for the orator ; for, as I observed, this part of learning, 
which, after being neglected by orators, has been taken up 
by the philosophers, was a portion of our business, and, 
without the knowledge of such subjects, there can be no 
perfect eloquence. 

Utility of 22. But let us consider what peculiar advantage he who 

music. is to be an orator may expect from music. Music has two 

kinds of measures, the one in the sozmds of the voice, the 
other in the motions of the body ; for in both a certain due 
regulation is required. Aristoxenus^ the musician divides 
all that belongs to the voice into pvOjxo^, * " rhythm," and 
fieXof e/jLfjberpov,^ " melody in measure; " of which the one 
consists in modulation, the other in sinking' and tunes. 
Are not all these qualifications, then, necessary to the orator, 
the one of which relates to gesture, the second to the collo- , 
cation of words, and the third to the inflections of the voice, |{ 
which in speaking are extremely numerous .-' 23. Such ' 
is undoubtedly the case, unless we suppose, perchance, 
that a regular structure and smooth combination of words 
is requisite only in poems and songs, and is superfluous in 
making a speech ; or that composition and modulation are 
not to be varied in speaking, as in music, according to the 
nature of the subject. 24. Music, however, by means of 

^ A rhetorician and native of Alexandria. In 55 B.C. he was brought cap- 
tive to Rome and practised his art in that city. He was disliked by Augustus 
for his freedom of speech. 

* A harper at Carthage. 

' A Greek philosopher and musician, a native of Tarentum.who lived about 
330 B.C. He was a pupil of Aristotle. 

* Rutbmos, * Melos emmetron. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 475 

the tone and modulation of the voice, expresses sublime 
thoughts with grandeur, pleasant ones with sweetness, 
and ordinary ones with calmness, and sympathises in its 
whole art with the feelings attendant on what is expressed. 
25. In oratory, accordingly, the raising, lowering, or other 
inflexion of the voice, tends to move the feelings of the 
hearers ; and we try to excite the indignation of the judges 
in one modulation of phrase and voice, (that I may again 
use the same term,) and their pity in another; for we see 
that minds are affected in different ways even by musical 
instruments, though no words can be uttered by them. 

26. A graceful, and becoming motion of the body, also, 
which the Greeks call evpvQ}xia} is necessary, and cannot be 
sought from any other art than music ; a qualification on 
which no small part of oratory depends, and for treating 
on which a peculiar portion of our work is set apart. If 
an orator shall pay extreme attention to his voice, what 
is so properly the business of music .'' But neither is this 
department of my work to be anticipated ; so that we must 
confine ourselves, in the mean time, to the single example 
of Caius Gracchus, the most eminent orator of his time, be- 
hind whom, when he spoke in pubHc, a musician used to 
stand, and to give, with a pitch-pipe, which the Greeks call 
Tovdptov,^ the tones in which his voice was to be exerted. 
28. To this he attended even in his most turbulent ha- 
rangues, both when he frightened the patricians, and after 
he began to fear them. 

For the sake of the less learned, and those, as they say, Necessary 
" of a duller muse," I would wish to remove all doubt of for the 
the utility of music. 29. They will allow, assuredly, that "j^'^^f^^^"'^' 
the poets should be read by him who would be an orator ; literature, 
but are they, then, to be read without a knowledge of 
music .'' If any one is so blind of intellect, however, as to 
hesitate about the reading of other poets, he will doubtless 
admit that those should be read who have written poems 
for the lyre. 30. On these matters I should have to en- 

^ The term applied by the Greeks to grace either in music or physical exer- 
cise. 

2 The term applied by the Greeks to a tuning-pipe, which was to give the 
pitch to the speakers or singers. 



476 Source Book of the History of Education \ 

large more fully, if I recommended this as a new study ; but 
since it has been perpetuated from the most ancient times, 
even from those of Chiron^ and Achilles to our own (among 
all, at least, who have not been averse to a regular course 
of mental discipline), I must not proceed to make the point 
doubtful by anxiety to defend it. 

* « « * * « « 

Utility of 34. As to geometry, people admit that some attention to 

geometry. jt jg Qf advantage in tender years ; for they allow that the 
thinking powers are excited, and the intellect sharpened by 
it, and that a quickness of perception is thence produced ; 
but they fancy that it is not, Hke other sciences, profitable , 
after it has been acquired, but only whilst it is being studied. 
35. Such is the common opinion respecting it. But it is 
not without reason that the greatest men have bestowed 
extreme attention on this science ; for as geometry is divided 
between numbers and figures, the knowledge of wimbers, i 
assuredly, is necessary not only to an orator, but to every • 
one who has been initiated even in the rudiments of learn- 
ing. In pleading causes, it is very often in request ; when 
the speaker, if he hesitates, I do not say about the amount 
of a calculation, but if he even betray, by any uncertain or 
awkward movement of his fingers, a want of confidence in 
his calculations, is thought to be but imperfectly accom- 
plished in his art. 36. The knowledge of linear figiires, 
too, is frequently required in causes ; for law-suits occur 
concerning boundaries and measures. But geometry has 
a still greater connexion with the art of oratory. 

37. Order, in the first place, is necessary in geometry; 
and is it not also necessary in eloquence ? Geometry 
proves what follows from what precedes, what is unknown 
from what is known ; and do we not draw similar conclu- 
sions in speaking } Does not the well known mode of de- 
duction from a number of proposed questions consist 
almost wholly in syllogisms .-* Accordingly you may find 
more persons to say that geometry is allied to logic, than 
that it is allied to rhetoric. 38. But even an orator, though 

1 Chiron was the son of Cronus and the ocean nymph Philyra. He alone 
of the Centaurs is represented as wise and just, and was the master and 
instructor of many Grecian heroes. 



Scientific Exposition of Romait Education 477 

rarely, will yet at times prove logically, for he will use 
syllogisms if his subject shall require them, and will of 
necessity use the enthymem, which is a rhetorical syllogism. 
Besides, of all proofs, the strongest are what are called 
geometrical demonstrations ; and what does oratory make 
its object more indisputably than proof ? 

39. Geometry often, moreover, by demonstration, proves Character of 
what is apparently true to be false. This is also done geometry, 
with respect to numbers, by means of certain figures which 
they call yjf€v8o'ypa(f}cai,^ and at which we were accustomed 
to play when we were boys. But there are other questions 
of a higher nature. For who would not believe the as- 
serter of the following proposition : " Of whatever places 
the boundary lines measure the same length, of those 
places the areas also, which are contained by those lines, 
must necessarily be equal .-' " 40. But this proposition is 
fallacious ; for it makes a vast difference what figure the 
boundary lines may form ; and historians, who have 
thought that the dimensions of islands are sufficiently indi- 
cated by the space traversed in saiHng round them, have 
been justly censured by geometricians. 41. For the 
nearer to perfection any figure is, the greater is its ca- 
pacity ; and if the boundary line, accordingly, shall form a 
circle, which of all plane figures is the most perfect, it will 
embrace a larger area than if it shall form a square of 
equal circumference. Squares, again, contain more than 
triangles of equal circuit, and triangles themselves contain 
more when their sides are equal than when they are 
unequal. ... 

46. Need I add that geometry raises itself still higher, Astronomy; 
so as even to ascertain the system of the world ? When it its utility. 
demonstrates, by calculations, the regular and appointed 
movements of the celestial bodies, we learn that, in that 
system, there is nothing unordained or fortuitous ; a 
branch of knowledge which may be sometimes of use to 
the orator. 47. When Pericles freed the Athenians from 
fear, at the time that they were alarmed by an eclipse of 
the sun, by explaining to them the causes of the phaenome- 

* 1 The term used by the Greeks with reference to the drawing of false geo- 
metric proofs. Of these, no example is to be found. 



47^ Source Book of the History of Education 

non ; or when Sulpicius Gallus,^ in the army of Paulus 
^milius,^ made a speech on an eclipse of the moon, that 
the minds of the soldiers might not be terrified as by a 
supernatural prodigy, do they not, respectively, appear to 
have discharged the duty of an orator ? 48. Had Nicias^ 
been possessed of such knowledge in Sicily, he would not 
have been confounded with similar terror, and have given 
over to destruction the finest of the Athenian armies ; as 
Dion,^ we know, when he went to overthrow the tyranny 
of Dionysius, was not deterred by a similar phaenomenon.; 
49. Though the utility of geometry in war, however, be 
put out of the question, though we do not dwell upon the 
fact that Archimedes^ alone protracted the siege of Syra- 
cuse to a great extent, it is sufficient, assuredly, to estab- 
lish what I assert, that numbers of questions, which it is 
difficult to solve by any other method, as those about the 
mode of dividing, about division to infinity, and about the 
rate of progressions, are accustomed to be solved by those 
geometrical demonstrations ; so that if an orator has to 
speak (as the next book will show) on all subjects, no man, 
assuredly, can become a perfect orator without a knowl- 
edge of geometry. 

CHAPTER XII 

Is there I. It is a common question whether, supposing all these 

danger of things are to be learned, they can all be taught and 
studks?^ acquired at the same time ; for some deny that this is pos- 
sible, as the mind must be confused and wearied by so 
many studies of different tendency for which neither the 

^ In 168 B.C. he served as tribune of the soldiers in the army of Paulus 
.(Emilius in the war against Macedonia. By foretelling an eclipse, he gained 
the confidence of the people and was made consul l66 B.C. 

2 Born about 230 B.C., and died 160 B.C. He was one of the best speci- 
mens of the high Roman nobles. He received the surname Macedonicus 
because of his brilliant victory at Pydna in 168 B.C. 

3 One of the most celebrated of the Athenian generals engaged during 
the Peloponnesian War. 

* A native of Syracuse who lived about 408-353 B.C. 

* One of the greatest mathematicians of antiquity. He was born at 
Syracuse 287 B.C., and was killed by a soldier 212 B.C. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 479 

understanding, nor the body, nor time itself, can suffice ; 

and even though mature age may endure such labour, yet 

that of childhood ought not to be thus burdened. 

2. But these reasoners do not understand how great the Power of the 
I power of the human mind is; that mind which is so busy human mind 
;;and active, and which directs its attention, so to speak, to *° ^"!u^„I? 

. c ■ Kc -, many things. 

1 every quarter, so that it cannot even conhne itself to do 
[only one thing, but bestows its force upon several, not 
merely in the same day, but at the same moment. 3. Do 
not players on the harp, for example, exert their memory, 
and attend to the sound of their voice, and the various in- 
flexions of it, while, at the same time, they strike part of 
the strings with their right hand, and pull, stop, or let 
loose others with their left, while not even their foot is 
idle, but beats time to their playing, all these acts being 
done simultaneously .■' 4. Do not we advocates, when sur- 
prised by a sudden necessity to plead, say one thing while 
we are thinking of what is to follow, and while, at the very 
same moment, the invention of arguments, the choice of 
words, the arrangement of matter, gesture, deHvery, look, 
and attitude, are necessarily objects of our attention } If 
all these considerations, of so varied a nature, are forced, 
as by a single effort, before our mental vision, why may 
we not divide the hours of the day among different kinds 
of study, especially as variety itself refreshes and recruits 
the mind, while, on the contrary, nothing is more annoying 
than to continue at one uniform labour .-' Accordingly 
writing is relieved by reading, and the tedium of reading 
itself is relieved by changes of subject. 5. However 
many things we may have done, we are yet to a certain 
degree fresh for that which we are going to begin. Who, 
on the contrary, would not be stupefied, if he were to Hsten 
to the same teacher of any art, whatever it might be, 
through the whole day ? But by change a person will be 
recruited ; as is the case with respect to food, by varieties 
of which the stomach is re-invigorated, and is fed with 
several sorts less unsatisfactory than with one. Or let 
those objectors tell me what other mode there is of learn- 
ing. Ought we to attend to the teacher of grammar only, 
and then to the teacher of geometry only, and cease to 
think, during the second course, of what we learned in the 



480 Source Book of the History of Education I 

first ? Should we then transfer ourselves to the musician, 
our previous studies being still allowed to escape us ? Or 
while we are studying Latin, ought we to pay no attention 
to Greek ? Or, to make an end of my questions at once, 
ought we to do nothing but what comes last before us ? 
7. Why, then, do we not give similar counsel to husband- 
men, that they should not cultivate at the same time their 
fields and their vineyards, their olives and other trees, and 
that they should not bestow attention at once on their 
meadows, their cattle, their gardens, and their bee-hives?: 
Why do we ourselves devote some portion of our time to 
our pubHc business, some to the wants of our friends, some 
to our domestic accounts, some to the care of our persons,, 
and some to our pleasures, any one of which occupations! 
would weary us, if we pursued it without intermission ?* 
So much more easy is it to do many things one after the 
other, than to do one thing for a long time. 
Boys can 8. That boys will be unable to bear the fatigue of 

endure many studies, is by no means to be apprehended ; for noi 

muc s u y. ^^^ suffers less from fatigue. This may perhaps appear! 
strange ; but we may prove it by experience. 9. Fori 
minds, before they are hardened, are more ready to learn ;' 
as is proved by the fact that children, within two years 
after they can fairly pronounce words, speak almost the 
whole language, though no one incites them to learn ; but 
for how many years does the Latin tongue resist the efforts 
of our purchased slaves ! You may well understand, if 
you attempt to teach a grown up person to read, that 
those who do everything in their own art with excellence, 
are not without reason called TraiBofiadel'i, that is, "in- 
structed from boyhood." 10. The temper of boys is 
better able to bear labour than that of men ; for, as neither 
the falls of children, with which they are so often thrown 
on the ground, nor their crawling on hands and knees, nor, 
soon after, constant play, and running all day hither and 
thither, inconvenience their bodies so much as those of 
adults, because they are of little weight, and no burden to 
themselves, so their minds likewise, I conceive, suffer less 
from fatigue, because they exert themselves with less 
effort, and do not apply to study by putting any force upon 
themselves, but merely yield themselves to others to be 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 481 



formed. 11. Moreover, in addition to the other pliancy 
of that age, they follow their teachers, as it were, with 
greater confidence, and do not set themselves to measure 
what they have already done. Consideration about labour 
is as yet unknown to them ; and, as we ourselves have 
frequently experienced, toil has less effect upon the 
powers than thought. 

12. Nor will they ever, indeed, have more disposable 
time ; because all improvement at this age is from hear- 
ing. When the pupil shall retire by himself to write, when 
he shall produce and compose from his own mind, he will 
then either not have leisure, or will want inclination, to 
commence such exercises as I have specified. 13. Since 
the teacher of grammar, therefore, cannpt occupy the 
whole day, and indeed ought not to do so, lest he should 
disgust the mind of his pupil, to what studies can we 
better devote his fragmentary intervals, so to term them, 
of time.-* 14. For I would not wish the pupil to be worn 
out in these exercises ; nor do I desire that he should sing, 
or accompany songs with musical notes, or descend to the 
minutest investigations of geometry. Nor would I make 
him like an actor in delivery, or hke a dancing-master in 
gesture ; though, if I did require all such quahfications, 
there would still be abundance of time ; for the imma- 
ture part of life, which is devoted to learning, is long ; and 
I am not speaking of slow intellects. 15. Why did Plato, 
let me ask, excel in all these branches of knowledge which 
I think necessary to be acquired by him who would be an 
orator.? He did so, because, not being satisfied with the 
instruction which Athens could afford, or with the science 
of the Pythagoreans,^ to whom he had sailed in Italy, he 
went also to the priests of Egypt, and learned their 
mysteries. 

16. We shroud our own indolence under the pretext of 
difficulty ; for we have no real love of our work ; nor is 
eloquence ever sought by us, because it is the most honour- 
able and noble of attainments, or for its own sake ; but we 
apply ourselves to labour only with mean views and for 



Abundance 
of time for 
all necessary 
acquire- 
ments. 



Unreason- 
able pretexts 
for not 
pursuing 
studies. 



1 One of the most important of the ancient systems of philosophy, 
founded by Pythagoras (580-504 B.C.). 



It was 



482 Source Book of the History of Education 

sordid gain. 1 7. Plenty of orators may speak in the forum, 
with my permission, and acquire riches also, without such 
accomplishments as I recommend ; only may every trader 
in contemptible merchandise be richer than they, and may 
the public crier make greater profit by his voice ! I would 
not wish to have even for a reader of this work a man 
who would compute what returns his studies will bring 
him. 18. But he who shall have conceived, as with a 
divine power of imagination, the very idea itself of genuine 
oratory, and who shall keep before his eyes true eloquence, 
the gtweji, as an eminent poet calls her, of the tvorld, and 
shall seek his gain, not from the pay that he receives for 
his pleadings, but from his own mind, and from contem- 
plation and knowledge, a gain which is enduring and 
independent of fortune, will easily prevail upon himself 
to devote the time, which others spend at shows, in the 
Campus Martins,^ at dice, or in idle talk, to say nothing 
of sleep and the prolongation of banquets, to the studies 
of geometry and music ; and how much more pleasure 
will he secure from such pursuits than from unintellectual 
gratifications ! 19. For divine providence has granted 
this favour to mankind, that the more honourable occupa- 
tions are also the more pleasing. But the very pleasure 
of these reflections has carried me too far. Let what 
I have said, therefore, suffice concerning the, studies in 
which a boy is to be instructed before he enters on more 
important occupations ; the next book will commence, as 
it were, a new subject, and enter on the duties of the 
teacher of rhetoric. 



Boys should 
receive 
instruction 
from the 
professor of 
rhetoric at 
an early age. 



BOOK II., CHAPTER I 

I. It has been a prevalent custom (which daily gains 
ground more and more) for pupils to be sent to the 
teachers of eloquence, to the Latin teachers always, 
and to the Greeks sometimes, at a more advanced 
age than reason requires. Of this practice there are 

' A plain lying to the north of Rome, part of which served as an exercise 
ground for the Roman youths, and part of which served as meeting-place for 
the popular assemblies. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 48; 



two causes : that the rhetoricians, especially our own, 
have relinquished a part of their duties, and that the 
grammarians have appropriated what does not belong to 
them. 2. The rhetoricians think it their business merely 
to declaim, and to teach the art and practice of declaim- 
ing, confining themselves, too, to deliberative and judicial 
subjects, (for others they despise as beneath their profes- 
sion,) while the grammarians, on their part, do not deem 
it sufficient to have taken what has been left them, (on 
which account also gratitude should be accorded them,) 
but encroach even upon prosopopeiae ^ and suasory^ 
speeches, in which even the very greatest efforts of 
eloquence are displayed. 3. Hence, accordingly, it has 
happened, that what was the first business of the one art 
has become the last of the other, and that boys of an 
age to be employed in higher departments of study remain 
sunk in the lower school, and practise rhetoric under the 
grammarian. Thus, what is eminently ridiculous, a youth 
seems unfit to be sent to a teacher of declamation until he 
already knows how to declaim. 

4. Let us assign each of these professions its due 
limits. 'L.Q'i grammar (which, turning it into a Latin word, 
they have called literatiwa, "literature") know its own 
boundaries, especially as it is so far advanced beyond the 
humility indicated by its name, to which humility the early 
grammarians restricted themselves ; for, though but weak 
at its source, yet, having gained strength from the poets 
and historians, it now flows on in a full channel ; since, 
besides the art of speaking correctly, which would other- 
wise be far from a comprehensive art, it has engrossed 
the study of almost all the highest departments of learning ; 
5. and let not rhetoric, to which the power of eloquence 
has given its name, decline its own duties, or rejoice that 
the task belonging to itself is appropriated by another; 
for while it neglects its duties, it is almost expelled from 
its domain. 6. I would not deny, indeed, that some of 
those who profess grammar, may make such progress in 



The profes- 
sion of the 
grammarian 
and of the 
teacher of 
rhetoric 
should be in 
some degree 
united. 



^ Speeches which are suited to the character of the persons by whom they 
are supposed to have been spoken. 

"^ Speeches of a kind which are termed deliberative. 



484 Source Book of the History of Education 

knowledge as to be able to teach the principles of oratory ; 
but, when they do so, they will be discharging the duties 
of a rhetorician, and not their own. 

7. We make it also a subject of inquiry, when a boy 
may be considered ripe for learning what rhetoric teaches. 
In which inquiry it is not to be considered of what age a 
boy is, but what progress he has already made in his 
studies. That I may not make a long discussion, I think 
that the question ivJieii a boy ought to be sent to the teacher 
J of rhetoric, is best decided by the answer, zvhoi he shall be 
qualified. 8. But this very point depends upon the 
preceding subject of consideration ; for if the office of 
the grammarian is extended even to suasory speeches, the 
necessity for the rhetorician will come later. If the 
rhetorician, however, does not shrink from the earliest 
duties of his profession, his attention is required even from 
the time when the pupil begins narrations, and produces 
his little exercises in praising and blaming. 9. Do we not 
know that it was a kind of exercise among the ancients. 
Character of Suitable for improvement in eloquence, for pupils to speak 
the rhetori- on theses} commofi places,"^ and other questions, (without 
ca s u y. embracing particular circumstances or persons,) on which 
causes, as well real as imaginary, depend .-• Hence it is 
evident how dishonourably the profession of rhetoric has 
abandoned that department which it held originally, and 
for a long time solely. 10. But what is there among those 
exercises, of which I have just now spoken, that does not 
relate both to other matters peculiar to rhetoricians, and, 
indisputably, to the sort of causes pleaded in courts of 
justice } Have we not to make statements of facts in the 
forum } I know not whether that department of rhetoric 
is not most of all in request there. 11. Are not eulogy 
and invective often introduced in those disputations .? Do 
not common places, as well those which are levelled against 
vice, (such as were composed, we read, by Cicero,) as those 

^ By this term is meant such questions on either side of which a rhetorician 
may speak with plausibility. 

2 By this Quintilian refers to general disquisitions on points of morality, or 
questions on points of law, as, for example, what credit should be given to 
written documents. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Edtication 485 

in which questions are discussed generally, (such as were 
published by Quintus Hortensius/ as Ought we to trust to 
light proofs ? and for zvitncsses and against wittiesses,) mix 
themselves with the inmost substance of causes ? 12. These 
weapons are in some degree to be prepared, that we may 
use them whenever circumstances require. He who shall 
suppose that these matters do not concern the orator, will 
think that a statue is not begun when its limbs are cast. 
Nor let any one blame this haste of mine (as some will 
consider it) on the supposition that I think the pupil who 
is to be committed to the professor of rhetoric is to be 
altogether withdrawn from the teachers of grammar. 
13. To these also their proper time shall be allowed, nor 
need there be any fear that the boy will be overburdened 
with the lessons of two masters. His labour will not be 
increased, but that which was confounded under one master 
will be divided ; and each tutor will thus be more efficient 
in his own province. This method, to which the Greeks 
Still adhere, has been disregarded by the Latin rhetoricians, 
and, indeed, with some appearance of excuse, as there 
have been others to take their duty. 

CHAPTER II 

1. As soon therefore as a boy shall have attained such Choice of 1 
proficiency in his studies, as to be able to comprehend teacher, 
what we have called the first precepts of the teachers of 
rhetoric, he must be put under the professors of that art. • 

2. Of these professors the morals must first be ascer- 
tained ; a point of which I proceed to treat in this part of 
my work, not because I do not think that the same exami- 
nation is to be made, and with the utmost care, in regard 
also to other teachers, (as indeed I have shown in the pre- 
ceding book,) but because the very age of the pupils makes 
attention to the matter still more necessary. 3. For boys 
are consigned to these professors when almost grown up, 
and continue their studies under them even after they 
are become men ; and greater care must in consequence 
be adopted with regard to them, in order that the purity 

^ See Book I., Ch. I., sec. 6. 



486 Source Book of the History of Education 



Attitude 
teacher 
toward 
pupils. 



Attitude 
of pupils. 



of the master may secure their more tender years from 
corruption, and his authority deter their bolder age from 
licentiousness. 4. Nor is it enough that he give, in him- 
self, an example of the strictest morality, unless he regu- 
late, also, by severity of discipline, the conduct of those 
who come to receive his instructions, 
of Let him adopt, then, above all things, the feelings of a 
parent towards his pupils, and consider that he succeeds 
to the place of those by whom the children were entrusted 
to him. 5. Let him neither have vices in himself, nor 
tolerate them in others. Let his austerity not be stern, 
nor his affability too easy, lest dislike arise from the one, || 
or contempt from the other. Let him discourse frequently * 
on what is honourable and good, for the oftener he admon- 
ishes, the more seldom will he have to chastise. Let him 
not be of an angry temper, and yet not a conniver at what 
ought to be corrected. Let him be plain in his mode of 
teaching, and patient of labour, but rather diligent in exact- 
ing tasks than fond of giving them of excessive length. 
6. Let him reply readily to those who put questions to 
him, and question of his own accord those who do not. In 
commending the exercises of his pupils, let him be neither 
niggardly nor lavish ; for the one quality begets dislike of 
labour, and the other self-complacency. 7. In amending 
what requires correction, let him not be harsh, and, least 
of all, not reproachful ; for that very circumstance, that 
some tutors blame as if they hated, deters many young 
men from their proposed course of study. 8. Let him 
every day say something, and even much, which, when the 
pupils hear, they may carry away with them, for though 
he may point out to them, in their course of reading, 
plenty of examples for their imitation, yet the living voice, 
as it is called, feeds the mind more nutritiously, and 
especially the voice of the teacher, whom his pupils, if 
they are but rightly instructed, both love and reverence. 
How much more readily we imitate those whom we like, 
can scarcely be expressed. 

9. The liberty of standing up and showing exultation 
in giving applause, as is done under most teachers, is by 
no means to be allowed to boys ; for the approbation even 
of young men, when they listen to others, ought to be but 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 487 

temperate. Hence it will result that the pupil will depend 
on the judgment of the master, and will think that he has 
expressed properly whatever shall have been approved by 
him. 10. But that most mischievous politeness, as it is 
now termed, which is shown by students in their praise of 
each other's compositions, whatever be their merits, is not 
only unbecoming and theatrical, and foreign to strictly 
regulated schools, but even a most destructive enemy to 
study, for care and toil may well appear superfluous, when 
praise is ready for whatever the pupils have produced. 
II. Those therefore who listen, as well as he who speaks, 
ought to watch the countenance of the master, for they 
will thus discern what is to be approved and what to be 
condemned ; and thus power will be gained from compo- 
sition, and judgment from being heard. 12. But now, 
eager and ready, they not only start up at every period, 
but dart forward, and cry out with indecorous transports. 
The compliment is repaid in kind, and upon such applause 
depends the fortune of a declamation ; and hence result 
vanity and self-conceit, insomuch that, being elated with 
the tumultuous approbation of their class-fellows, they are 
inclined, if they receive but Httle praise from the master, 
to form an ill opinion of him. 13. But let masters, also, 
desire to be heard themselves with attention and modesty ; 
for the master ought not to speak to suit the taste of his 
pupils, but the pupils to suit that of the master. If pos- 
sible, moreover, his attention should be directed to observe 
what each pupil commends in his speeches, and for what 
reason ; and he may then' rejoice that what he says will 
give pleasure, not more on his own account than on that 
of his pupils who judge with correctness. 

14. That mere boys should sit mixed with young men, importance 
I do not approve ; for though such a man as ought to pre- of moral 
side over their studies and conduct, may keep even the ^"ng'^*^^" 
eldest of his pupils under control, yet the more tender 
ought to be separate from the more mature, and they 
should all be kept free, not merely from the guilt of licen- 
tiousness, but even from the suspicion of it. 15. This 
point I thought proper briefly to notice ; that the master 
and his school should be clear of gross vice, I do not sup- 
pose it necessary to intimate. And if there is any father 



488 Source Book of the History of Education 



Earlier 
teachers to 
be well 
qualified. 



Mistakes 
commonly 
made on 
this point. 



who would not shrink from flagrant vice in choosing a 
tutor for his son, let him be assured that all other rules, 
which I am endeavouring to lay down for the benefit of 1 
youth, are, when this consideration is disregarded, useless I 
to him. 

CHAPTER III I 

I. Nor is the opinion of those to be passed in silence, 
who, even when they think boys fit for the professor of 
rhetoric, imagine that he is not at once to be consigned to 
the most eminent, but detain him for some time under 
inferior teachers, with the notion that moderate ability in 
a master is not only better adapted for beginning instruc- 
tion in art, but easier for comprehension and imitation, as 
well as less disdainful of undertaking the trouble of the ± 
elements. 2. On this head I think no long labour neces- I 
sary to show how much better it is to be imbued with the | 
best instructions, and how much difficulty is attendant on i 
eradicating faults which have once gained ground, as 
double duty falls on succeeding masters, and the task i 
indeed of unteaching is heavier and more important than I 
that of teaching at first. 3. Accordingly they say that 
Timotheus,^ a famous instructor in playing the flute, was 
accustomed to ask as much more pay from those whom 
another had taught as from those who presented them- 
selves to him in a state of ignorance. 4. The mistakes 
committed in the matter, however, are two; one, that people 
think inferior teachers sufficient for a time, and, from 
having an easily satisfied appetite, are content with their 
instructions ; (such supineness, though deserving of repre- 
hension, would yet be in some degree endurable, if teachers 
of that class taught only worse, and not less ;) the other, 
which is even more common, that people imagine that those 
who have attained eminent qualifications for speaking will 
not descend to inferior matters, and that this is sometimes 
the case because they disdain to bestow attention on 
minuter points, and sometimes because they cannot give 
instruction in them. 5. For my part, I do not consider 



^ A famous flute player of Thebes, who flourished under Alexander the 
Great. 



Scie7itific Exposition of Roman Education 489 

him, who is unwilling to teach little things, in the number Best 
of preceptors ; but I argue that the ablest teachers can teachers are 
teach little things best, if they will ; first, because it is thing" as" 
likely that he who excels others in eloquence, has gained well as best 
the most accurate knowledge of the means by which men '" great, 
attain eloquence ; 6. secondly, because method, which, 
with the best qualified instructors, is always plainest, is 
of great efficacy in teaching ; and lastly, because no man 
rises to such a height in greater things that lesser fade 
entirely from his view. Unless indeed we believe that 
though Phidias ^ made a Jupiter well, another might have 
wrought, in better style than he, the accessories to the 
decoration of the work ; or that an orator may not know 
how to speak ; or that an eminent physician may be unable 
to cure trifling ailments. 

7. Is there not then, it may be asked, a certain height 
of eloquence too elevated for the immaturity of boyhood 
to comprehend it .-• I readily confess that there is ; but 
the eloquent professor must also be a man of sense, not 
ignorant of teaching, and lowering himself to the capacity 
of the learner ; as any fast walker, if he should happen to 
walk with a child, would give him his hand, relax his pace, 
and not go on quicker than his companion could follow. 
8. What shall be said, too, if it generally happens that 
instructions given by the most learned are far more easy 
to be understood, and more perspicuous than those of 
others } For perspicuity is the chief virtue of eloquence, 
and the less ability a man has, the more he tries to raise 
and swell himself out, as those of short stature exalt them- 
selves on tip-toe, and the weak use most threats. 9. As to 
those whose style is inflated, displaying a vitiated taste, 
and who are fond of sounding words, or faulty from any 
other mode of vicious affectation, I am convinced that they 
labour under the fault, not of strength, but of weakness, 
as bodies are swollen, not with health, but with disease, 
and as men who have erred from the straight road gener- 
ally make stoppages. Accordingly, the less able a teacher 
is, the more obscure will he be. 

1 The famous Greek artist; was born at Athens about 500 B.C., and died 
in 432 B.C. 



490 Source Book of the History of Education 

Better lO. It has iiot escaped my memory, that I said in the 

teachers will preceding book, (when I observed that education in schools 
puptls/ ^^ ^'^^ preferable to that at home,) that pupils commencing 
their studies, or but little advanced in them, devote them- 
Their sclvcs more readily to imitate their school-fellows than their 

influence master, such imitation being more easy to them. This re- 
leciproca. j^^^j-]^ j^-j^y ]-)g understood by some in such a sense, that the 
opinion which I now advocate may appear inconsistent with 
that which I advanced before, ii. But such inconsistency 
will be far from me ; for what I then said is the very best 
of reasons why a boy should be consigned to the best pos- 
sible instructor, because even the pupils under him, being 
better taught than those under inferior masters, will either 
speak in such a manner as it may not be objectionable to 
imitate, or, if they commit any faults, will be immediately 
corrected, whereas the less learned teacher will perhaps 
praise even what is wrong, and cause it, by his judgment, 
to recommend itself to those who Hsten to it. 12. Let a 
master therefore be excellent as well in eloquence as in 
morals ; one who, like Homer's Phoenix,^ may teach his 
pupil at once to speak and to act. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Variety of I. It is generally, and not without reason, regarded as 

capacity and ^n excellent quality in a master to observe accurately the 
requires"^ differences of ability in those whom he has undertaken to 
variety of instruct, and to ascertain in what direction the nature of 
treatment, each particularly inclines him ; for there is in talent an 
incredible variety ; nor are the forms of the mind fewer 
than those of the body. 2. This may be understood even 
from orators themselves, who differ so much from each 
other in their style of speaking, that no one is like another, 
though most of them have set themselves to imitate those 
whom they admired. 3. It has also been thought advan- 
tageous by most teachers to instruct each pupil in such a 
manner as to cherish by learning the good qualities inher- 
ited from nature, so that the powers may be assisted in 
their progress towards the object to which they chiefly 



1 Iliad, IX. 432. 



Scientific Expositio7i of Roman Education 491 

direct themselves. As a master of palasstric exercises, 
when he enters a gymnasium full of boys, is able, after 
trying their strength and comprehension in every possible 
way, to decide for what kind of exercise each ought to be 
trained ; 4. so a teacher of eloquence, they say, when he 
has clearly observed which boy's genius delights most in a 
concise and polished manner of speaking, and which in a 
spirited, or grave, or smooth, or rough, or brilliant, or ele- 
gant one, will so accommodate his instructions to each, 
that he will be advanced in that department in Vv'hich he 
shows most ability ; 5. because nature attains far greater 
power when seconded by culture; and he that is led con- 
trary to nature, cannot make due progress in the studies 
for which he is unfit, and makes those talents, for the exer- 
cise of which he seemed born, weaker by neglecting to 
cultivate them. 

i 6. This opinion seems to me (for to him that follows rea- How far this 
son there is free exercise of judgment even in opposition ^dividual 
to received persuasions) just only in part. To distinguish cHsposition 

' peculiarities of talent is absolutely necessary ; and to make should be 

1 choice of particular studies to suit them, is what no man encouraged 
would discountenance. 7. For one youth will be fitter for cultivated. 

; the study of history than another ; one will be qualified for 
writing poetry, another for the study of law, and some 

' perhaps fit only to be sent into the fields. The teacher of 
rhetoric will decide in accordance with these peculiarities, 

' just as the master of ih^ palcestra will make one of his pupils 

I a runner, another a boxer, another a wrestler, or fit him for 
any other of the exercises that are practised at the sacred 
games. 

8. But he who is destined for public speaking must 
strive to excel, not merely in one accomplishment, but in 

i all the accomplishments that are requisite for that art, even 

'•■ though some of them may seem too difficult for him when 
he is learning them ; for instruction would be altogether 

I superfluous if the natural state of the mind were sufficient. 

i 9. If a pupil that is vitiated in taste, and turgid in his 

' style, as many are, is put under our care, shall we allow 
him to go on in his own way .-• Him that is dry and je- 
june in his manner, shall we not nourish, and, as it were, 

! clothe .'' For if it be necessary to prune something away 



The general 

training 

preferable. 



492 Source Book of the History of Education 

from certain pupils, why should it not be allowable to add! 
something to others ? 10. Yet I would not fight against 
nature ; for I do not think that any good quality, which isj 
innate, should be detracted, but that whatever is inactive ori 
deficient should be invigorated or supplied. 1 1. Was that! 
famous teacher Isocrates, whose writings are not stronger! 
proofs that he spoke well, than his scholars that he taught 
well, inchned, when he formed such an opinion of Ephorus ^ ' 
and Theopompusi as to say that ''the one zvafited the rein 
and the other the spur;' to think that the slowness in the 
duller, and the ardour in the more impetuous, were to be 
fostered by education ? On the contrary, he thought that 
the quaHties of each ought to be mixed with those of the 
other. 12. We must so far accommodate ourselves, how- 
ever, to feeble intellects, that they may be trained only to 
that to which nature invites them; for thus they will do 
with more success the only thing which they can do. But 
if richer material fall into our hands, from which we justly 
conceive hopes of a true orator, no rhetorical excellence 
must be left unstudied. 13. For though such a genius be 
more inclined, as indeed it must be, to the exercise of cer- 
tain powers, yet it will not be averse to that of others, and 
will render them, by study, equal to those in which it natu- 
rally excelled ; just as the skilful trainer in bodily exercise, 
(that I may adhere to my former illustration,) will not, if 
he undertakes to form a pancratiast,^ teach him to strike 
with his fist or his heel only, or instruct him merely in 
wrestling, or only in certain artifices of wrestling, but will 
practise him in everything pertaining to the pancratiastic 
art. 

There may perhaps be some pupil unequal to some of 
these exercises. He must then apply chiefly to that in 
which he can succeed. 14. For two things are especially 
to be avoided ; one, to attempt what cannot be accom- 
plished ; and the other, to divert a pupil from what he 
does well to something else for which he is less qualified. 

1 Two Greek historians of the fourth century B.C. Both were pupils of 
Isocrates. 

2 A youth who trained for the pancratium, where the athletes contested in 
wrestling and boxing. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 493 

3ut if he be capable of instruction, the tutor, like Nicos- 
ratus ^ whom we, when young, knew at an advanced age, 
vill bring to bear upon him every art of instruction alike, 
md render him invincible, as Nicostratus was in wrestHng 
md boxing, for success in both of which contests he was 
:rowned on the same day. 15. How much more must 
iuch training, indeed, be pursued by the teacher of the 
■uture orator ! For it is not enough that he should speak 
concisely, or artfully, or vehemently, any more than for a 
singing master to excel in acute, or middle, or grave tones 
)nly, or even in particular subdivisions of them : since 
eloquence is, hke a harp, not perfect, unless, with all its 
strings stretched, it be in unison from the highest to the 
owest note. 

] CHAPTER IX 

I. Having spoken thus fully concerning the duties of Pupils 
:eachers, I give pupils, for the present, only this one admo- should re- 
iiition, that they are to love their tutors not less than their fnsuuctors 
'studies, and to regard them as parents, not indeed of their as 
bodies, but of their minds. 2. Such affection contributes intellectual 
1 greatly to improvement, for pupils, under its influence, will P^"^^" ^" 
aot only listen with pleasure, but will believe what is taught 
them, and will desire to resemble their instructors. They 
will come together, in assembling for school, with pleasure 
and cheerfulness; they will not be angry when corrected, 
and will be deUghted when praised ; and they will strive, 
by their devotion to study, to become as dear as possible 
'to the master. 3. For as it is the duty of preceptors to 
i teach, so it is that of pupils to show themselves teachable; 
neither of these duties, else, will be of avail without the 
other. And as the generation of man is effected by both 
parents, and as you will in vain scatter seed, unless the 
furrowed ground, previously softened, cherish it, so neither 
can eloquence come to its growth unless by mutual 
agreement between him who communicates and him who 
receives. 

1 A native of Cilicia, and renowned for his strength and prowess. 



494 Source Book of the History of Education 



Nature 
contributes 
mjre than 
art in 

students of 
moderate 
ability. 



In those of 
greater 
talent, art is 
more 
important. 



CHAPTER XIX 

I. I am aware that it is also a question whether nature 
or learning contributes most to oratory. This inquiry, 
however, has no concern with the subject of my work ; for 
a perfect orator can be formed only with the aid of both ; 
but I think it of great importance how far we consider that 
there is a question on the point. 2. If you suppose either 
to be independent of the other, nature will be able to do 
much without learning, but learning will be of no avail 
without the assistance of nature. But if they be united in 
equal parts, I shall be inclined to think that, when both are 
but moderate, the influence of nature is nevertheless the 
greater; but finished orators, I consider, owe more to 
learning than to nature. Thus the best husbandman 
cannot improve soil of no fertility, while from fertile 
ground something good will be produced even without the 
aid of the husbandman ; yet if the husbandman bestows 
his labour on rich land, he will produce more effect than 
the goodness of the soil of itself. 3. Had Praxiteles ^ 
attempted to hew a statue out of a millstone, I should 
have preferred to it an unhewn block of Parian 2 marble ; 
but if that statuary had fashioned the marble, more value 
would have accrued to it from his workmanship than was 
in the marble itself. In a word, nature is the material for 
learning; the one forms, and the other is formed. Art can 
do nothing without material ; material has its value even 
mdependent of art ; but perfection of art is of more con- 
sequence than perfection of material. 



CHAPTER XXI 

Opinions of I. As to the material oi oratory, some have said that it 

on'L°bJec? '^ ^P^l<^^i; an opinion which Gorgias in Plato Ms repre- 

of rhetoric, sented as holding. If this be understood in such a way 

that a discourse, composed on any subject, is to be termed 

1 One of the most famous Greek sculptors, who was born at Athens about 

390 B.C. 

2 Marble from Paros, an island in the VEgean Sea. 
' Plato, Gorgias, 449. 



Scientific Exposition of Ro7na7i Educatioii 495 



a speech, it is not the material, but the work ; as the statue 
is the work of a statuary ; for speeches, like statues, are 
produced by art. But if by this term we understand mere 
words, words are of no effect without matter. 2. Some 
have said that the material of oratory is persuasive argii- 
vients ; which indeed are part of its business, and are the 
produce of art, but require material for their composition. 
Others say that its material is questions of civil admiiiistra- 
tion ; an opinion which is wrong, not as to the quality of 
the matter, but in the restriction attached ; for such ques- 
tions are the subject of oratory, but not the only subject. 
3. Some, as oratory is a virtue, say that the subject of it is 
the ivJiole of Jmnian life. Others, as no part of human life 
is affected by every virtue, but most virtues are concerned 
only with particular portions of life, {2i'& justice, fortitude, 
teviperance, are regarded as confined to their proper duties 
and their own limits,) say that oratory is to be restricted to 
one special part, and assign to it the pragmatic department 
of ethics, or tliat ivhich relates to the transactions of civil life. 
4. For my part, I consider, and not without authorities 
to support me, that the material of oratory is everything that 
tnay come before an orator for discussion. For Socrates in 
Plato ^ seems to say to Gorgias that the matter of oratory is 
not in words but in tilings. In the Phaedrus ^ he plainly 
shows that oratory has place, not only in judicial pro- 
ceedings and political deliberations, but also in private and 
domestic matters. Hence it is manifest that this was the 
opinion of Plato himself. 5. Cicero, too, in one passage,^ 
calls the material of oratory the topics which are submitted 



That of 
Quintilian 



to it for discussion, but supposes that particular topics only thosro7 
are submitted to it. But in another passage * he gives his Plato and 
opinion that an orator has to speak upon all subjects, Cicero, 
expressing himself in the following words : " The art of 
the orator, however, and his very profession of speaking 
well, seems to undertake and promise that he will speak 
elegantly and copiously on whatever subject may be pro- 
posed to him." 6. In a third passage,'^ also, he says: 



1 Plato, Gorgias, 450-457. ^ piato, Phcedrus, 261. 

' Cicero, De Oratore, I. 15; De Inveciione, I. 4. 

* Cicero, De Oratore, I. 6 ^ Cicero, De Oratore, III. 14. 



496 Source Book of the History of Education 

" But by an orator, whatever occurs in human life (since 
it is on human life that an orator's attention is to be fixed, 
as the matter that comes under his consideration) ought 
to have been examined, heard of, read, discussed, handled, 
and managed. 



No conflict 
between 
rhetoric and 
philosophy. 



12. As to the objection which some make, that it is the 
business oi pJiilosophy to discourse of what is good, useful, 
and just, it makes nothing against me ; for when they say 
a philosopher, they mean a good man; and why then 
should I be surprised that an orator, whom I consider to 
be also a good man, should discourse upon the same sub- 
jects.'' 13. especially when I have shown, in the preced- 
ing book, that philosophers have taken possession of this 
province because it was abandoned by the orators, a prov- 
ince which had always belonged to oratory, so that the 
philosophers are rather trespassing upon our ground. 
Since it is the business of logic, too, to discuss whatever 
comes before it, and logic is uncontinuous oratory, why may 
not the business of continuous oratory be thought the same } 

14. It is a remark constantly made by some, that an 
orator must be skilled in all arts if he is to speak upon all 
subjects. I might reply to this in the words of Cicero, in 
whom I find this passage : ^ "In my opinion no man can 
become a thoroughly accomplished orator, unless he shall 
have attained a knowledge of every subject of importance, 
and of all the liberal arts ; " but for my argument it is 
sufficient that an orator be acquainted with the subject on 
which he has to speak. 15. He has not a knowledge of 
all causes, and yet he ought to be able to speak upon all. 
On what causes, then, will he speak } On such as he has 
learned. The same will be the case also with regard to 
the arts and sciences ; those on which he shall have to 
speak he will study for the occasion, and on those which 
he has studied he will speak. 



Scope of 
oratory. 



18. Do subjects of this kind never come to be mentioned 
in panegyrical, or deliberative, or judicial oratory .•* When 



^ Cicero, De Oraiore, I. 6. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 497 

it was under deliberation, whether a harbour should be 
constructed at Ostia,^ were not orators called to deliver 
opinions on the subject? yet what was wanted was the 
professional knowledge of the architect. 19. Does not 
the orator enter on the question, whether discolorations 
and tumors of the body are symptoms of ill health or of 
poison ? yet such inquiries belong to the profession of 
medicine ? Will an orator never have to speak of dimen- 
sions and numbers ? yet we may say that such matters 
belong to mathematics; for my part, I believe that any 
subject whatever may, by some chance, come under the 
cognizance of the orator. If a matter does not come 
under his cognizance, he will have no concern with it. 

20. Thus I have justly said, that tJie material of oratory Opinion of 
is everything that is brought under its notice for disctission, Qumtihan 
an assertion which even our daily conversation supports, by'^fhoseof 
for whenever we have any subject on which to speak, we other 
often signify by some prefatory remark, that the matter authors, 
is laid before us. 21. So much was Gorgias^ of opinion 
that an orator must speak of everything, that he allowed 
himself to be questioned by the people in his lecture-room, 
upon any subject on which any one of them chose to 
interrogate him. Hermagoras^ also, by saying, that "the 
matter of oratory lies in the cause and the questions con- 
nected with it," comprehends under it every subject that 
can possibly come before it for discussion. 22. If indeed 
he supposed that the questions do not belong to oratory, 
he is of a different opinion from me ; but if they do belong 
to oratory, I am supported by his authority, for there is 
no subject that may not form part of a cause or the ques- 
tions connected with it. 23. Aristotle,* too, by making 
three kinds of oratory, the judicial, the deliberative, and 
the demonstrative, has put almost everything into the 

1 A city of Latium, situated at the mouth of the Tiber, sixteen miles from 
Rome. 

2 Plato, Gorgias, 474. 

' A native of Tennos (about 120 B.C.). He introduced a most noteworthy 
system of oratory, which supplied the chief foundation for the theoretical 
studies of the Romans at the beginning of the first century B.C. 

* Rhetoric, I. 3, 3. 



498 Source Book of the History of Education 

hands of the orator, for there is no subject that may not 
enter into one of the three kinds. 

24. An inquiry has been also started, though by a very 
few writers, concerning the instrument of oratory. The 
instrument I call tJiat ivithout which material cannot be 
fashioned and adapted to the object wJiicJi %ve wish to effect. 
But I consider that it is not the art that requires the 
instrument, but the artificer. Professional knowledge 
needs no tool, as it may be complete though it produces 
nothing, but the artist must have his tool, as the engraver 
his graving-instrument, and the painter his pencils. I 
shall therefore reserve the consideration of this point for 
that part of my work in which I intend to speak of the 
orator. 



Oratory as 
the aim of 
education. 

Moral 
qualities of 
the edu- 
cated man. 



BOOK XII., CHAPTER I 

I. Let the orator, then, whom I propose to form, be 
such a one as is characterized by the definition of Marcus 
Cato,^ a good man skilled in speaking!^ 

But the requisite which Cato has placed first in this 
definition, that an orator should be a good man, is naturally 
of more estimation and importance than the other. It is 
of importance that an orator should be good, because, 
should the power of speaking be a support to evil, nothing 
would be more pernicious than eloquence alike to public 
concerns and private, and I myself, who, as far as is in 
my power, strive to contribute something to the faculty of 
the orator, should deserve very ill of the world, since I 
should furnish arms, not for soldiers, but for robbers. 
2. May I not draw an argument from the condition of 
mankind } Nature herself, in bestowing on man that 
which she seems to have granted him preeminently, and 
by which she appears to have distinguished us from all 
other animals, would have acted, not as a parent, but as a 
step-mother, if she had designed the faculty of speech to 
be the promoter of crime, the oppressor of innocence, and 
the enemy of truth ; for it would have been better for us 

1 Cato, the Censor, born 234 B.C. 

2 Given in his De Oratore, as appears from the reference made by Seneca 
and by Cicero. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 499 

to have been born dumb, and to have been left destitute of 
reasoning powers, than to have received endowments from 
providence only to turn them to the destruction of one 
another. 

3. My judgment carries me still further; for I not only 
say that he who would answer my idea of an orator, must 
be a good man, but that no man, unless he be good, can 
ever be an orator. To an orator discernment and pru- 
dence are necessary ; but we can certainly not allow dis- 
cernment to those, who, when the ways of virtue and vice 
are set before them, prefer to follow that of vice ; nor can 
we allow them prudence, since they subject themselves, by 
the unforseen consequences of their actions, often to the 
heaviest penalty of the law, and always to that of an evil 
conscience. 4. But if it be not only truly said by the wise, 
but always justly believed by the vulgar, that no man is 
vicious who is not also foolish, a fool, assuredly, will never 
become an orator. 

It is to be further considered that the mind cannot be in 
a condition for pursuing the most noble of studies, unless 
it be entirely free from vice ; not only because there can 
be no communion of good and evil in the same breast, and 
to meditate at once on the best things and the worst is no 
more in the power of the same mind than it is possible for 
the same man to be at once virtuous and vicious ; 5. but 
also, because a mind intent on so arduous a study should 
be exempt from all other cares, even such as are uncon- 
nected with vice ; for then, and then only, when it is free 
and master of itself, and when no other object harasses 
and distracts its attention, will it be able to keep in view 
the end to which it is devoted. 6. But if an inordinate at- why a 
tention to an estate, a too anxious pursuit of wealth, indul- bad man 
gence in the pleasures of the chase, and the devotion of successfuf * 
our days to public spectacles, rob our studies of much of orator. 
our time, (for whatever time is given to one thing is lost 
to another,) what effect must we suppose that ambition, 
avarice, and envy will produce, whose excitements are so 
violent as even to disturb our sleep and our dreams.? 
7. Nothing indeed is so pre-occupied, so unsettled, so torn 
and lacerated with such numerous and various passions, as 
a bad mind ; for when it intends evil, it is agitated with 



50O Source Book of the History of Education 



Objections 
to this 
opinion 
answered. 



hope, care, and anxiety, and when it has attained the ob- 
ject of its wickedness, it is tormented with uneasiness, re- 
pentance, and the dread of every kind of punishment. 
Among such disquietudes, what place is there for study, 
or any rational pursuit ? No more certainly than there is 
for corn in a field overrun with thorns and brambles. 

8. To enable us to sustain the toil of study, is not tem- 
perance necessary } What expectations are to be formed, 
then, from him who is abandoned to licentiousness and 
luxury .-• Is not the love of praise one of the greatest in- 
citements to the pursuit of literature .-' But can we suppose 
that the love of praise is an object of regard with the un- 
principled .'' Who does not know that a principal part of 
oratory consists in discoursing on justice and virtue? But 
will the unjust man and the vicious treat of such subjects 
with the respect that is due to them .■* 

9. But though we should even concede a great part of 
the question, and grant, what can by no means be the case, 
that there is the same portion of ability, diligence, and 
attainments, in the worst man as in the best, which of the 
two, even under that supposition, will prove the better ora- 
tor.'' He, doubtless, who is the better man. The same 
person, therefore, can never be a bad man and a perfect 
orator, for that cannot be perfect to which something else 
is superior. 

10. That I may not seem, however, like the writers of 
Socratic dialogues, to frame answers to suit my own pur- 
pose, let us admit that there exists a person so unmoved 
by the force of truth, as boldly to maintain that a bad man, 
possessed of the same portion of ability, application, and 
learning, as a good man, will be an equally good orator, 
and let us convince even such a person of his folly. 

1 1. No man, certainly, will doubt, that it is the object of 
all oratory, that what is stated to the judge may appear to 
him to be true and just ; and which of the two, let me ask, 
will produce such a conviction with the greater ease, the 
good man or the bad .'' 12. A good man, doubtless, will 
speak of what is true and honest with greater frequency ; 
but even if, from being influenced by some call of duty, he 
endeavours to support what is fallacious, (a case which, as I 
shall show, may sometimes occur,) he must still be heard 



Scientific Exposition of Roma7i Education 501 

with greater credit than a bad man. 13. But with bad 
men, on the other hand, dissimulation sometimes fails, as 
well through their contempt for the opinion of mankind, 
as through their ignorance of what is right; hence they 
assert without modesty, and maintain their assertions with- 
out shame ; and, in attempting what evidently cannot be 
accomplished, there appears in them a repulsive obstinacy 
and useless perseverance ; for bad men, as well in their 
pleadings as in their lives, entertain dishonest expectations ; 
and it often happens, that even when they speak the truth, 
belief is not accorded them, and the employment of advo- 
cates of such a character is regarded as a proof of the bad- 
ness of a cause. 



23. Let us grant, however, what nature herself by no 
means brings to pass, that a bad man has been found en- 
dowed with consummate eloquence, I should nevertheless 
refuse to concede to him the name of orator, as I should 
not allow the merit of fortitude to all who have been active 
in the field, because fortitude cannot be conceived as un- 
accompanied with virtue. 24. Has not he who is employed 
to defend causes need of integrity which covetousness can- 
not pervert, or partiality corrupt, or terror abash, and shall 
we honour the traitor, the renegade, the prevaricator, with 
the sacred name of orator .'' And if that quality, which is 
commonly called goodness, is found even in moderate 
pleaders, why should not that great orator, who has not 
yet appeared, but who may hereafter appear, be as consum- 
mate in goodness as in eloquence .-' 25. It is not a plodder 
in the forum, or a mercenary pleader, or, to use no stronger 
term, a not unprofitable advocate, (such as he whom they 
generally term a caitsidicus,) that I desire to form, but a 
man who, being possessed of the highest natural genius, 
stores his mind thoroughly with the most valuable kinds 
of knowledge ; a man sent by the gods to do honour to the 
world, and such as no preceding age has known ; a man 
in every way eminent and excellent, a thinker of the best 
thoughts and a speaker of the best language. 26. For such 
a man's ability how small a scope will there be in the de- 
fence of innocence or the repression of guilt in the forum, 
or in supporting truth against falsehood in litigations about 



A bad man 
may 



speak with 
great force, 
but does not 
approach to 
perfect 
eloquence. 



502 Source Book of the History of Education 

money ? He will appear great, indeed, even in such in- 
ferior employments, but his powers will shine with the high- 
est lustre on greater occasions, when the counsels of the 
senate are to be directed, and the people to be guided from 
error into rectitude. 27. Is it not such an orator that Vir- 
gil appears to have imagined, representing him as a calmer 
of the populace in a sedition, when they were hurling fire- 
brands and stones ? 

Then if perchance a sage they see, rever'd 
For piety and worth, they hush their noise, 
And stand with ears attentive. 

We see that he first makes him a good man, and then adds 
that he is skilled in speaking : 

With words 
He rules their passions and their breasts controls. 

28. Would not the orator whom I am trying to form, too, 
if he were in the field of battle, and his soldiers required 
to be encouraged to engage, draw the materials for an ex- 
hortation from the most profound precepts of philosophy } 
for how could all the terrors of toil, pain, and even death, 
be banished from their breasts, unless vivid feelings of 
piety, fortitude, and honour, be substituted in their place ? 
29. He, doubtless, will best implant such feelings in the 
breasts of others who has first implanted them in his own ; 
for simulation, however guarded it be, always betrays itself, 
nor was there ever such power of eloquence in any man 
that he would not falter and hesitate whenever his words 
were at variance with his thoughts. 30. But a bad man 
must of necessity utter words at variance with his thoughts ; 
while to good men, on the contrary, a virtuous sincerity of 
language will never be wanting, nor (for good men will 
also be wise) a power of producing the most excellent 
thoughts, which, though they may be destitute of showy 
charms, will be sufficiently adorned by their own natural 
qualities, since whatever is said with honest feeling will 
also be said with eloquence. 



i yEneid, I. 148. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 503 



CHAPTER II 

I. Since an orator, then, is a good man, and a good man 
cannot be conceived to exist without virtuous inclinations, 
and virtue, though it receives certain impulses from nature, 
requires notwithstanding to be brought to maturity by in- 
struction, the orator must above all things study morality, 
and must obtain a thorough knowledge of all that is just 
and honourable, without which no one can either be a good, 
man or an able speaker. 2. Unless, indeed, we feel in- 
chned to adopt the opinion of those who think that the 
moral character is formed by nature, and is not at all influ- 
enced by discipHne ; and who forsooth, acknowledge that 
manual operations, and even the meanest of them, cannot 
be acquired without the aid of teachers, but say that we 
possess virtue, (than which nothing has been given to man 
that raises him nearer to the immortal gods,) unsought and 
without labour, simply because we are born what we are. 
3. But will that man be temperate, who does not know 
even what temperance is ? Or will that man be possessed 
of fortitude, who has used no means to free his mind from 
the terrors of pain, death, and superstition ? Or will that 
man be just, who has entered into no examination of what 
is equitable and good, and who has never ascertained from 
any dissertation of the least learning, the principles either 
of the laws which are by nature prescribed' to all men, or 
of those which are instituted among particular people and 
nations ? Of how little consequence do they think all this, 
to whom it appears so easy ! 4. But I shall say no more 
on this point, on which I think that no man, who has tasted 
of learning, as they say, witJi bnt the slightest touch of his 
lips, will entertain the least doubt. 

I pass on to my second proposition, that no man will 
ever be thoroughly accomplished in eloquence, who has 
not gained a deep insight into the impulses of human 
nature, and formed his moral character on the precepts 
of others and on his own reflection. 5. It is not without 
reason that Lucius Crassus, in the third book De Oratore,^ 
asserts that everything that can come under discussion re- 

^ Cicero's De Oratore. Lucius Licinius Crassus, a leading orator of his 
times, was one of the characters in the dialogue. 



Orator must 
study to 
maintain a 
high moral 
character. 



Education 
must reen- 
force nature 
in tenden- 
cies to 
virtue. 



504 Source Book of the History of Education 

specting equity, justice, truth, goodness, and whatever is of 
an opposite nature, are the proper concerns of the orator ; 
and that the philosophers, when they inculcate those vir- 
tues with the force of eloquence, use the arms of the orator 
and not their own. Yet he adjnits that the knowledge of 
these subjects must now be sought from philosophy, because 
philosophy, apparently, seems to him to be more fully in 
possession of them. 6. Hence also it is that Cicero remarks, 
in many passages both of his books and of his letters, that 
the power of eloquence is to be derived from the deepest 
sources of wisdom, and that accordingly the same persons 
were for a considerable time the teachers at once of elo- 
quence and of morality. 

This exhortation of mine, however, is not designed to 
intimate that I should wish the orator to be a philosopher, 
since no other mode of life has withdrawn itself further 
from the duties of civil society, and all that concerns the 
orator. 7. Which of the philosophers, indeed, ever fre- 
quented courts of justice, or distinguished himself in public 
assemblies .'' Which of them ever engaged even in the 
management of political affairs, on which most of them 
have given such earnest precepts ? But I should desire 
the orator, whom I am trying to form, to be a kind of 
Roman wise man, who may prove himself a true states- 
man, not by ^discussions in retirement, but by personal 
experience and exertions in public life. 8. But because 
the pursuits of philosophy have been deserted by those 
who have devoted their minds to eloquence, and because 
they no longer display themselves in their proper field of 
action, and in the open light of the forum, but have re- 
treated, at first into the porticoes and gymnasia, and since 
into the assemblies of the schools, the orator must seek 
that which is necessary for him, and which is not taught 
by the masters of eloquence, among those with whom it 
has remained, by perusing with the most diligent appli- 
cation the authors that give instruction in virtue, that his 
life may be in conformity with a thorough knowledge of 
divine and human things ; and how much more important 
and noble would these things appear, if those were to teach 
them who could discourse on them with the highest elo- 
quence } 9. Would that there may some day come a time, 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 505 

when some orator, perfect as we wish him to be, may vin- 
dicate to himself the study of philosophy, (which has been 
rendered odious as well by the arrogant assumptions, as 
by the vices, of those who have disgraced its excellent 
nature,) and, by a re-conquest as it were, annex it again 
to the domain of eloquence ! 

10. As philosophy is divided into three parts, physics, Divisions of 
ethics, and dialectics, by which of the three is it not allied philosophy, 
with the business of the orator ? 

To consider them in the order contrary to that in which 
I have named them, no man can surely doubt whether the 
last, which is wholly employed about words, concerns the 
orator, if it be his business to know the exact significations 
of terms, to clear ambiguities, to disentangle perplexities, 
to distinguish falsehood from truth, and to establish or 
refute what he may desire; 11. though, indeed, we shall Dialectics, 
not have to use these arts with such exactness and precise- 
ness in pleadings in the forum, as is observed in the dispu- 
tations of the schools ; because the orator must not only 
instruct his audience, but must move and delight them, and 
to effect that object there is need of energy, animation, 
and grace ; the difference between the orator and the dia- 
lectician being as great as that in the courses of rivers of 
an opposite character ; for the force of streams that flow 
between high banks, and with a full flood, is far greater 
than that of shallow brooks, with water struggling against 
the obstructions of pebbles. 12. And as the teachers of 
wrestling do not instruct their pupils in all the attitudes, 
as they call them, that they may use all that they have 
learned in an actual struggle with an adversary, (for more 
may be effected by weight, and firmness, and ardour,) but 
that they may have a large number of artifices, of which 
they may adopt one or other as occasion may require; 
13. so the art of logic, or of disputation, if we had rather give 
it that name, though it is often of the greatest use in defi- 
nitions and deductions, in marking differences and in ex- 
plaining ambiguities, in distinguishing and dividing, in 
perplexing and entangling, yet, if it assumes to itself the 
whole conduct of a cause in the forum, will prove but a 
hindrance to what is better than itself, and will waste, by 
its very subtilty, the strength that is divided to suit its 



5o6 Source Book of the History of Education 

niceties. 14. We may accordingly see that some people, 
extremely acute in disputations, are, when they are drawn 
beyond the sphere of cavilling, no more able to support 
any important exertion of eloquence, than certain little 
animals, which are active enough to escape being caught 
in a small space, can prevent themselves from being seized 
in an open field. 
Ethics. 15. As to that part of philosophy which is called moral, 

the study of it is certainly wholly suited to the orator ; for 
in such a variety of causes, (as I have remarked in the pre- 
ceding books,) in which some points are ascertained by 
conjecture, others are settled by definition, others are set 
aside by the law, others fall under the state of exception, 
others are determined by syllogism, others depend on a 
comparison of different laws, others on explanations of 
ambiguous terms, scarcely a single cause can occur in some 
part of which considerations of equity and morality are not 
concerned. Who does not know, also, that there are 
numbers of cases which depend entirely on the estimation 
of the quality of an act, a question purely moral .'' 16. In 
deliberative oratory, also, what means would there be of ex- 
hortation unconnected with questions of honesty .-^ As 
to the third kind of oratory, too, which consists in the 
duties of praising and censuring, what shall be said of it .-' 
It is assuredly engaged about considerations of right and 
wrong. 17. Will not an orator have to speak much of 
justice, fortitude, abstinence, temperance, piety .'' Yet the 
good man, who has a knowledge of these virtues, not by 
sound and name only, not as heard merely by the ear to be 
repeated by the tongue, but who has embraced them in his 
heart, and thinks in conformity with them, will have no 
difficulty in conceiving proper notions about them, and will 
express sincerely what he thinks. 

18. Again, as every general question is more compre- 
hensive than a particular one, as a part is contained in the 
whole while the whole is not included in a part, no one 
will doubt that general questions are intimately connected 
with that kind of studies of which we are speaking. 
19. As there are many points also which require to be 
settled by appropriate and brief definitions, whence one 
state of causes is called the definitive, ought not the orator 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 507 

to be prepared for giving such definitions by those who 
have given most attention to that department of study ? 
Does not every question of equity depend either on an 
exact determination of the sense of words, or on the con- 
sideration of what is right, or on conjecture respecting the 
intention of the author of something written ? and of all 
such questions part will rest on logical and part on ethical 
science. 20. All oratory, therefore, naturally partakes of 
these two departments of philosophy : I mean all oratory 
that truly deserves the name ; for mere loquacity, which 
is ignorant of all such learning, must necessarily go astray, 
as having either no guides, or guides that are deceitful. 

But the department of natural philosophy, besides that Natural 
it affords so much wider a field for exercise in speaking philosophy, 
than other subjects, inasmuch as we must treat of divine 
in a more elevated style than of human things, embraces 
also the whole of moral science, without which, as I have 
just shown, there can be no real oratory. 21. For if the 
world is governed by a providence, the state ought surely 
to be ruled by the superintendence of good men. If our 
souls are of divine origin, we ought to devote ourselves to 
virtue, and not to be slaves to a body of terrestrial nature. 
Will not the orator frequently have to treat of such sub- 
jects as these.'' Will he not have to speak of auguries, 
oracles, and of everything pertaining to religion, on which 
the most important deliberations in the senate often depend, 
at least if he is to be, as I think that he ought to be, a 
well quahfied statesman ? What sort of eloquence can be 
imagined, indeed, to proceed from a man who is ignorant 
of the noblest subjects of human contemplation.'' 



27. But an orator has no need to bind himself to the The orator 
laws of any particular sect; for the office to which he "fj^'^j^^j^'^jj 
devotes himself, and for which he is as it were a candidate, ^ifjj ^^^^ 
is of a loftier and better nature, since he is to be distin- sect, 
guished as well by excellence of moral conduct as by merit 
in eloquence. He will accordingly select the most elo- 
quent orators for imitation in oratory, and for forming his 
moral character will fix upon the most honourable precepts 
and the most direct road to virtue. 28. He will indeed 



of all. 



508 Source Book of the History of Education 

exercise himself on all subjects, but he will attach himself 
most to those of the highest and noblest nature ; for what 
more fertile subjects can be found, indeed, for grave and 
copious eloquence, than dissertations on virtue, on govern- 
ment, on providence, on the origin of the human mind, 
and on friendship ? These are the topics by which the 
mind and the language are alike elevated ; what is really 
good ; what allays fear, restrains cupidity, frees us from the 
prejudices of the vulgar, and raises the mind towards the 
heaven from which it sprung. 
Should learn 29. Nor will it be proper to understand those matters 
the good only which are comprehended in the sciences of which I 
have been speaking, but still more to know, and to bear 
continually in mind, the noble deeds and sayings which 
are recorded of the great men of antiquity, and which 
certainly are nowhere found in greater number or excel- 
lence than in the annals of our own commonwealth, 
30. Will men of any other nation give better lessons of 
fortitude, justice, honour, temperance, frugahty, contempt 
of pain and death, than a Fabricius,^ a Curius,^ a Regulus,^ 
a Decius,* a Mucins,^ and others without number? for 
highly as the Greeks abound in precepts, the Romans, 
what is of far more importance, abound quite as much as 
in examples; 31. and that man will feel himself in a 
manner impelled by the biography of his country to a 
similar course of conduct, who does not think it sufficient 

* Roman consul, first in 283 B.C., again in 279. Refused bribe from 
Pyrrhus. Later returned in chains the ambassador of Pyrrhus, who offered to 
poison his master. 

2 Roman consul, first in 290 B.C. Noted for his simplicity of life. 

' Roman consul made prisoner by the Carthaginians, 255 B.C. When 
returned to Rome on an embassy to make peace, he advised against it, and 
returned as a prisoner to Carthage, to a martyr's death. 

* A Roman consul who gave his life for the safety of his country in the 
war against the Latins, 337 B.C. 

* Mucius Scaevola entered the enemy's camp for the purpose of killing 
King Porsena, but by mistake killed the king's secretary. On being brought 
to execution by fire, he placed his right hand in the flame until consumed. 
The king ordered him released on account of his bravery. Mucius then 
informed Porsena of the purpose of three hundred youths to attempt his 
death. This so terrified the king that he withdrew. 



Scientific Exposition of Roman Education 509 

to regard merely the present age, and the passing day, 
but considers that any honourable remembrance among 
posterity is but the just sequel to a life of virtue, and the 
completion of a career of merit. From this source let the 
orator whom I would form derive strong encouragements 
to the observance of justice, and let him show a sense of 
liberty drawn from hence in his pleadings in the forum 
and in his addresses to the senate. Nor will he indeed 
ever be a consummate orator who has not both knowledge 
and boldness to speak with sincerity. . . . 



INDEX 



Accius, 471. 

^milius Paulus, 478. 

^schylus, 142, 147. 

Agis, 18. 

Aglauros, 33. 

Agricola, Cnaeus Julius, 372, 376. 

Alcman, 23. 

Alexander, 453, 456. 

Alexander, the grammarian, 380. 

Amazons, 244, 402. 

Anaxagoras, 106. 

Andronicus, Livius, 347, 349, 355, 398. 

Antidosis, 96. 

Antisthenes, 298, 

Antoninus Pius, 372, 381. 

Antonius Marcus, 423. 

Apollonius, 379. 

Archimedes, 478. 

Archytas, 320. 

Ares, 33. 

Aristarchus, 350. 

Aristippus, 311. 

Aristophanes, the grammarian, 454. 

Aristophanes, 54 ff. ; treatment of Soph- 
ists, 56, 63, 68 ff. ; the Clouds, 66 ff., 
320 ; " old " and " new " education, 80 ff. 

Aristotle, 265 ff., 431, 433, 456; and 
Plato, 265; the Politics, 268, 272 ff. ; 
ideas on government, 269; child edu- 
cation, 270; and Lyceum, 298. 

Ari -jtoxenus, 474. 

Arithmetic, value of, 200; when to be 
taught, 216 ; extent and method, 258. 

Asinius, 470. 

Astronomy, practical value, 206 ; theo- 
retical value, 208, 477 ; study of, 260. 

Athenian Education, its nature, 11 ; im- 
portance, 25. 

Athens, government of, 25; free scope 
for individual, 27; new education, 
295; University of, 295, 300, 305; de- 
cree of Senate, 302 ; decree of Assem- 
bly, 304. 



Athletics, overdoing of, 285. 

Atia, 362. 

Atticus, T. Pomponius, 371, 375. 

Augustus Caesar, 362, 375. 

Aurelia, 362. 

Aurelius Marcus, 371 ff., 377 fF. 

Auxo, 33. 

Basil, Saint, 296 ff., 305 ff. 
Books, 415, 468. 

Buildings, for schools, 242; for libraries, 
407. 

Caecilius, 471. 

Caesar, Julius, 362. 

Cameades, 431. 

Carrinas, Secundus, 419. 

Carvilius, Spurius, 347, 355. 

Cato, Marcus, 329, 498. 

Cato, Valerius, 351. 

Catulus, 380. 

Chaerephon, 67. 

Child Education, in Sparta, 15 ff. ; idea 
of Protagoras, 31 ; in Persia, 123 ; how 
made harmful, 143 ; importance of, 
169, 451; age for teaching 216, 454; 
element of play, 217, 234, 279; how 
prepared, 229 ; early training, 231, 308, 
397, 451, 455, 488 ; difficulties, 247 ; 
ideas of Aristotle, 270, 279 ; at home, 
280, 376, 451 ; Roman ideals, 362 ; char- 
acter of, 398, 451 ; part of poetry, 398 ; 
curriculum, 456. 

Chiron, 476. 

Christianity, 301, 328. 

Chrysippus, 431, 451, 454, 466. 

Chrysogonus, 417. 

Cicero, 333, 345, 353, 358, 421 ff.; De 
Or afore, 428 ff. ; aim of education, 428 ; 
defines oratory, 433 ; on philosophy, 
437 ; idea of good speaker, 439 ; de- 
scription of his own life, 440. 

Cornelia, 362, 
II 



512 index 



Correlia Hispulla, 394, 410. 
Cotfa, C. Amelius, 423. 
Crassus, L. Licinius, 423, 503. 
Crates, 348, 350. 
Cryptia, 22. 
Curius, 508. 
Cyrus, 122 ff. 

Damon, 106. 

Dancing, part of education, 223 ff. ; rules 
for, 252 ; various kinds, 254. 

Decius, 508. 

Demetrius, 312. 

Democritus, 319, 431, 

Demosthenes, 313. 422, 433, 438. 

Dialectics, end of science, 211; nature 
and divisions, 212 ; education for phi- 
losophers, 214, 505 ; time to be studied, 
217 ff. 

Diodorus, 363. 

Diogenes, 453. 

Dion, 478. 

Discipline of boy, 280. 

Domitian, 392, 446. 

Draco, 345. 

Drama, 33. 

Duties of wife, 42 fF. 

Education, supreme importance, 168, 
311; foundation of state, 180, 272; 
divisions of, 138, 233, 275 ; periods for 
respective stages, 216, 248; nature of, 
222 ; subject-matter, 223, 230, 283 ; for 
public good, 225, 281 ; aim, 229 ; com- 
pulsory, 243 ; related to state, 274 ; of 
body precedes mind, 278 ; by ap- 
prenticeship, 368 ; instruction before 
practice, 369 ; at home, 280, 376, 451 ; 
by example, 396, 420; neglected by 
wealthy, 418; public rather than pri- 
vate, 459. 

Egypt, static education of, 226; how 
secured, 236; method, 258. 

Ekklesia, 102. 

Empedicles, 468. 

Ennius, 347, 349, 350, 443, 471. 

EInyalios, 33. 

Ephebes, 8, 32, 302, 304 ; oath of, 23. 

Ephori, 23. 

Ephorus, 492. 

Epicurus, 298, 365. 

Euripides, 286, 312, 319. 

Eurydice, 325. 



Fabricius, 508. 
Flatterers, danger of, 323. 
Flavius, 397. 
Fronto, Cornelius, 380. 
Fuscus, Cornelius, 413. 

Galba, 445. 

Gallus, Sulpicius, 478. 

Geometry, its importance, 205, 476; when 

to be taught, 216. 
Gorgias, 57, 61, 102, 312, 497. 
Gracchi, 362, 394, 443. 
Grammatists, 347, 351, 391, 467, 483. 
Greek Education, periods, 1,51, 116, 129, 

265, 295 ; character, 3, 58 ; sources, 4, 

54, 116, 296. 
Gregory, of Nazianzus, 296 ff. ; panegyric 

of, 305. 
Gymnastic, school of, 32; changes in, 

59; of military type, 163; part of 

education, 223 ; proper character, 

233 ; branches of, 252 ; importance of, 

316. 

Habit, precedes instruction, 278; pre- 
cedes reason, 285. 

Hadrian, 301, 347, 392. 

Hegemone, 33. 

Helotes, 21, 22, 

Hermagoras, 497. 

Hesiod, 140, 319, 454. 

Hippias, 61. 

Hispulla, Correlia, 394, 410. 

Homer, 140, 142, 148, 150 ff., 242, 284, 
469; unfit for educational purposes, 

147 ff. 
Homeric period, 2; 
Horace, 387, 390, 469; Satires, 396; 

Epistles, 398 ; Ars Poetica, 399. 
Hortensius, Quintus, 452, 485. 
Hunting, 263. 
Hypereides, 433. 



Individualism, 27, 52. 

Instruction of servants, 43. 

Iren, 16. 

Ischomachus, 37 ff. 

Isocrates, 56 ff. ; Against Sophists, 91 ; 
Exchange of Estates, 95 ; defends 
Sophists, 105 ; pupils of, 492. 

Justinian, 302. 

Juvenal, 389 ff. ; Satires, 416, 419. 



Index 



513 



Knowledge gained through observation, 
165 ; as opposed to opinion, 185 ff. ; 
separated from practice, 367 ; how 
acquired, 413; requires power, 435. 

Lacedsemon, education in, 15 ff., 244 ; de- 
fect, 278, 285 ; musical education, 287. 

Lselius, Sapiens, 452. 

Lampadio, C. Octavius, 350. 

Leisure, life of, commended, 245, 277. 

Leonidas, 453. 

Leonidas, King, 19. 

Linus, 473. 

Literators, 347, 351. 

Literature, objections thereto, 139, 385 ; 
educational difficulties, 249; Socratic 
dialogues commended, 250; value of, 
316, 475; poetry is best form of, 
398. 

Lucilius, 350, 471. 

Lucretius, 468. 

Ludus, 347, 390, 394. 

Lycurgus, 5, 15 ff., 345. 433. 

Marcellus, Marcus, 433. 

Martial, 387 ff. ; Epigrams, 399. 

Mathematics, basis of highest knowl- 
edge, 257 ; its need, 259. 

Maximus, 381. 

Melliren, 16. 

Memory, improvement of, 219. 

Menander, 470. 

Metrodorus, 365. 

Moral Education, 419, 487, 503, 506. 

Mucins, Quintus, 363, 508. 

Musaeus, 287. 

Music, school for, 32; changes in, 59, 
83; an empirical science, 210; its re- 
straining force, 237 ff. ; controlled by 
State, 238 ; principles of, 252, 283, 294 ; 
why studied, 286 ff. ; preference of in- 
struments, 291. 

Musonius, 388 ff. ; Education of Women, 
400. 

Nepos, Cornelius, 351, 371, 375. 

Nero, 387. 

New Greek Education, 6, 51, 58 ; consid- 
ered as bad, 72, 83 ff.; superficiality, 
78 ; contrasted with old, 80 ff. 

Nicias, 478. 

Nicostratus, 493. 

Nikokles, 98. I 

2 L 



Oath of Ephebes, 33. 

Old Greek Education, 3, g; contrasted 
with new, 80 ff. ; respect for, 108. 

Opinion, as opposed to knowledge, 185 
ff. ; of public, not to be followed, 228 ; 
subject-matter of arts and science, 252. 

Oratory, Isocrates on, 93; Tacitus on, 
361 ; obtained through experience, 364, 
443 ; reason for decline, 366 ; not sole 
aim, 414 ; idea of, 425 ; aim of educa- 
tion, 428; qualifications for, 429,432; 
in reference to philosophy, 433, 436; 
definition of, 433,447; subject-matter, 
444, 494, 496 ; success in, 499 ^ 

Orbilius, 387, 398. 

Orpheus, 473. 

Over-study, 478. 

Pacuvius, 471. 

Pandeletus, 81. 

Parrhasios, 95. 

Pericles, 8, 24 ff., 52, 313. 

Persia, laws contrasted, 123 ; educational 
system, 123 ff. ; class education, 127. 

Phidias, 95, 489. 

Philip v., 301. 

Philip of Macedon, 456. 

Philosopher, definition of, 182 ; true ruler 
of state, 190 ; concerned with Dialectic, 
214 ; qualifications for, 215 ; relation to 
Oratory, 436, 

Philosophical Education, opposed by 
popular opinion, 107, in; corrupted 
by Sophists, 113; its true adherent, 
114; schools of, 297 ff. ; end of learn- 
ing, 314, 437; for women, 404; con- 
nection with Rhetorical, 107, 433 ft, 
496 ; divisions of, 505. 

Phocylides, 309. 

Pindar, 103. 

Plato, 129 ff., 320; Protagoras, 7, 31; 
Republic, 130, 138 ; Laws, 134, 222 ; 
on Sophists, 63, 109 ff. ; solution of 
educational problem, 130; differs from 
Socrates, 131 ; ideal government, 136, 
180; defines philosopher, 182; and 
Aristotle, 265; and Academy, 297; 
care of children, 308; and Cicero, 431, 
438; skill of, 481. 

Plautus, 356, 360. 

Play, 217, 234, 279, 466. 

Pliny, 347, 358, 388, 450; Epistles, 406, 
410, 411, 413. 



514 



hidex 



Plutarch, 5, 296, 329 ; Life of Lycurgus, 
15 ff. ; Training of Children, yyj ff. 

Pollio, 417. 

Praxiteles, 494. 

Prodicus, 56, 61. 

Protagoras, 7, 31 ff., 61 ff. 

Punishment, objected to, 317 ; defended, 
466. 

Pythagoras, 322, 481. 

Pythagoreans, 206, 308, 481. 

Quintilian, 392, 418, 427, 445; Institutes 
of Oratory, 451 ff. ; defends orators, 
447, 498 ; agrees with Plato and Cicero, 
495- 

♦ Regulus, 508. 

Religious Education, which tales do 
harm, 145 ; part of state in education, 
172, 261 ; end of education, 262. 

Rhetorical Education, relation to Philo- 
sophical, 107, 423 ff., 496; in Rome, 
352, 356 ; formal character of, 369, 390, 
416, 484 ; influence of, 380 ; curricu- 
lum, 437, 484; opposed, 442; pre- 
requisite, 472; time of study, 482. 

Roman Education, periods, 327, 346, 355, 
386, 421, 445; sources, 328, 346, 356, 
371, 387, 423, 446; ideals, 331, 390; 
subject-matter, 333, 358, 366, 390, 447 ; 
introduction of schools, 347 ; periods 
contrasted, 356, 359 ff. ; decadence, 
394 ; materialistic tendencies, 398. 

Rufus, P. Sulpicius, 423. 

Satuminus, Pompeius, 406. 

Scsevola, Q. Mucius, 423, 452. 

Scholarchs, 298. 

Scholarships, founding of, 408. 

Schools, of Sophists, 297 ; poorly man- 
aged, 399 ; supported by people, 412 ; 
of rhetoric, 416. 

Seneca, 393 ; Epistle, 400. 

Servants, instruction of, 43. 

Servius Tullius, 418. 

Sextus, Pompeius, 379, 435. 

Socrates, 35 ff., 53 ff., 118 ff., 138 ff., 
308 ff., 320, 383 ; caricatured by Aris- 
tophanes, 70 ff. ; position towards 
Sophists, 119; objects to certain litera- 
ture, 142; care for children, 310. 

Solon, 216, 433. 

Sophists, 56 ff., 60 ff. ; popular opinion 



of, 71 ; caricatured, 75 ff. ; ability to 
teach everything, 79; attacked by 
Isocrates, 91 ff. ; cause for being hated, 
94 ff. ; defended by Isocrates, 105 ; 
attacked by Plato, no ff. ; teachings 
of, 117 ; schools of, 297. 

Sotades, 470. 

Soul, 275, 345. 

Spartan Education : care of children, 15 ; 
method, 17, 320; in poetry and music, 
19 ; preparation for war, 20 ; occupa- 
tion, 21 ; of women, 36 ; weakness of, 
276. 

Speaking, power of, 108; preparation 
for, 313; simplicity advised, 314. 

Spensippus, 297, 320. 

State, founded on education, 180, 221, 
272; ruled by philosophers, 190 ff. 
qualifications for rulers of, 215 ff. ; 
supervision of children, 230; control 
over arts and sciences, 142 ff., 161, 
238 ; relation of education to, 274. 

Stilpo, 312. 

Stoic philosophy, 298, 373, 378. 

Strategi, 96. 

Suetonius, 347, 388 ; Selections, 349, 352, 

375. 400- 
Sulla, 301. 

Tacitus, 347, 357, 372,388,411,450; Con- 
cerning Oratory, 361 ff. ; Agricola, 376. 

Teacher, training and work of, 247; 
of lyre, 251 ; choice of, 309, 410, 413, 
451, 485 ; cooperation with parents, 
318; relation to pupil, 361, 486,493; 
little respected, 418 ; qualifications of, 
465, 490. 

Teaching, by example, 325; by imita- 
tion, 400; aided by nature, 494. 

Telephus, 81. 

Terence, 471. 

Thallo, 33. 

Theodorus, 417. 

Theophrastus, 298, 431, 433. 

Theopompus, 492. 

Theorists, historical period and sources, 
116; problem of, 116; philosophical 
period, 129. 

Thesmothetae, 106. 

Thracians, 244. 

Thrasymachus, 418. 

Thucydides, 8, 22; speech of Pericles, 
24 ff. 



Index 



515 



Timagenes, 474. 

Timotheos, loi. 

Tragedies, 256. 

Trierarch, 96. 

Truthfulness, importance of, 321. 

Twelve Tables, importance of, 328, 345, 
355. 433: description of, 330; frag- 
ments of, 334 ff. 

University of Athens, 295, 300 fF. 

Varro, 468. 
Ventidius, 418. 

iVespasian, 301, 388, 392, 400, 445. 
Virgil, 466, 469, 474, 502. 
Virtue, taught, 32, 107 ; belongs to man 
of wisdom, 165 ; elements of, 273, 307. 

Wisdom, aim of education, 165. 
' Women, education in Greece, 34 ff. ; in- 



struction of wife, 39; care of house- 
hold, 40; duties of, 42; education 
similar to that of men, 173 ff., 400; 
particular songs for, 241 ; compulsory 
education, 243 ; education in Rome, 
394 ; chiefly moral, 404. 
Wrestling, importance of, 253. 

Xenophon, 35, 120; Economics, 37 ff. ; 
Cyropcsdia, •L'2'2. 

Youth, education in Sparta, 16 ff.; edu- 
cation in Persia, 124 ff. ; education 
should imitate true character, 156; 
experience evil as well as good, 164; 
period for, 217 ; errors of, 321 ; in 
Rome, 375 ; ability of, 480. 

Zenodotus, 303. 
Zeuxis, 50, 95. 






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